145;Friendly146; fire mars PCB recce

A two-man team from the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB inspected the PCA Stadium at Mohali today and pronounced themselves happy with what the...

A two-man team from the Pakistan Cricket Board PCB inspected the PCA Stadium at Mohali today and pronounced themselves happy with what they saw. That8217;s no surprise; Mohali is one of the best grounds in the world.

What was surprising, though, was the sniping by both sides that took place today away from the spotlight. The PCB team criticised the BCCI8217;s handling of their trip and arrangements for the full cricket tour beginning next month, and the BCCI responded in kind. 8216;8216;The BCCI has not matched the 8216;internal plan8217;,8217;8217; Zakir Khan, the PCB8217;s general manager cricket operations, told The Indian Express today. 8216;8216;We won8217;t approve anything officially till our meeting with the BCCI officials in Kolkata tomorrow.8217;8217;

Khan was here along with Sohail Khan, SSP, Lahore.

Asked what the 8216;internal plan8217; was, he said that was for the BCCI to answer.

When contacted, BCCI secretary S K Nair said the two-member team had arrived in advance. 8216;8216;We had asked the PCB to arrange the inspection team8217;s visit in such a way to avoid a clash with Republic Day, when all government officials would be busy and it would be difficult to get things sorted out.8217;8217;

8216;8216;They8217;ve come two days earlier. The PCB should have officially communicated to us about the plan.8217;8217;

Nair was also not happy about the team briefing the media. 8216;8216;I don8217;t know what they have told the media. We had a different programme for them. The PCB should understand that there are certain constraints. But they have chosen to go as per their convenience.8217;8217;

The two-member PCB team and BCCI officials will now have a meeting in Kolkata on Wednesday to clear the confusion.

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8216;8216;We have a plan in place for them and we will communicate to the PCB in time,8217;8217; said Nair about clearing the misunderstanding.

A top BCCI source admitted to the goof-up, and said it was a result of the Board8217;s long-running state of limbo. 8216;8216;The BCCI should learn on diplomacy matters from the PCB. There was only one official to receive the team at the airport in New Delhi, the visitors had no idea where to head first. This is no way to start the revival of the so looked-forward to series between the two cricketing nations.8217;8217;

On a happier note, SSP Khan said the PCB perceived no threat as far as the India-Pakistan cricket series is concerned. About Ahmedabad being a sensitive centre for Test, Khan said, 8216;8216;more of it is media generated and based on hearsay. We see no perception of threat and will liasion with the Indian police rather then direct them on security arrangements.