India, Pak not to queer pitch on cricket

The BCCI has agreed to shift the second tie of the three-Test series to Kolkata, while Ahmedabad will get to host an additional one-dayer—the sixth of the tour.

The first and third Tests will be held in Mohali and Bangalore, respectively, with the Pakistan team slated to arrive in New Delhi on February 25—as per the original schedule.

The formula rounded up hectic consultations between cricket officials from both sides, and even a private breakfast meeting this morning in Islamabad between close friends Foreign Minister Natwar Singh and PCB chief and former diplomat Shaharyar Khan.

While Singh managed to extract an assurance from Khan that the tour would not be cancelled on this issue, the PCB chief said he’s awaiting a ‘‘counter proposal’’ from the BCCI on the revised schedule.

Khan, of course, will first have to get the revised proposal cleared by is board, which is expected to come through tomorrow.

‘‘The matter will be resolved in th next 24 hours,’’ said Khan before his meeting with Singh.

The ball is now in Pakistan’s court, said BCCI chief Ranbir Singh Mahendra at a press conference in New Delhi today.

The redrawing of the schedule will force the tour to be postponed by at least 4-5 days, said Mahendra.

However, with the television rights issue yet to be sorted out the delay could well be over a week.

The BCCI president also said that ICC president Ehsaan Mani—from Pakistan—played a part in breaking the deadlock. ‘‘Jagmohan Dalmiya (Asian Cricket Council chief) and Mahendra made calls from his room to (PCB chief) Shaharyar Khan this morning and it looks like the matter will be sorted out in a day,’’ said a member of the BCCI working committee.

He said the BCCI had first floated the idea of playing a one-dayer in Ahmedabad and had conveyed the proposal through BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla on his visit to Lahore last week.

The stumbling block for the BCCI lay in trying to convince one of the state associations to give up their turn for hosting a one-dayer.

‘‘That is where Ehsaan Mani played the role of facilitator and convinced Shaharyar Khan to play a sixth one-dayer,’’ the member said.

Both governments, however, have refrained from any official intervention with officials making it clear that the dispute is an issue for the boards to settle.

In fact, the governments are waiting for a final word so that they can make the necessary arrangements for thousands of Pakistani cricket fans to watch the matches. The Indian High Commission is all set to hold the first visa camp around February 25 in Lahore.

The High Commission will later hold a similar camp at Karachi in the second week of March. Two special counters will be set up at the High Commission in Islamabad throughout the series. Close to 10,000 visas will be issued on the basis of a ticket confirmation.