Pak may call off cricket tour

He told reporters in Lahore that the threat 8220;was not a big one.8221; Majid, a former Test cricketer, said 8220;in my personal opinion, the team should go ahead.8221;

However, Pakistan8217;s high commissioner in India, Ashraf Jehangir Quasi today told a news agency in New Delhi that theincident could not be taken lightly and asked the Indian Government to ensure the security of the visiting cricketers.

8220;In view of the threats issued by certain political leaders who have staked their political reputation in preventing the cricket tour, we are extremely concerned about the security of our cricketers,8221; he told the Press Trust of India.

Little has been said in Pakistan on the official level on the incident but there are strong indications that the Pakistan cricket team would be calling off the tour to India following the digging up of the pitch in Delhi.

8220;In a way, the Shiv Sena action has given Pakistan an excuse,8221; said one senior cricket official.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said that the Indian tour 8220;was a classic case of bad timing.8221; Other cricket observers agreed with his contention that the team was suffering from a serious crisis of morale following the investigations into the betting allegations. 8220;This crisis was very apparent during the Australian andZimbabwean tours of Pakistan in the second half of 1998,8221; said one observer.

With such low morale, going on a tour to India, where pressure on the Pakistan cricket team is intense, does not make sense, say experts. The appointment of Wasim Akram as captain has also created much heartburn within the team, with some players refusing to play under him.

The intensity of the campaign by the Shiv Sena has also rattled the Pakistan cricketing establishment. Pakistan has played in the Independence Cup and before that in the World Cup in India in recent years. But on both occasions, threats against the team were minimal 8212; barring the 1993 incident of pitch destruction by the Shiv Sena in Mumbai.

One senior cricketer said: 8220;It takes just a few men to create a scene.8221; While strict security by the Indian Government is an option, it is one that the Pakistan team does not relish. 8220;It will be like a jail for the Pakistani cricketers and will only depress them further,8221; said Waheed Khan, a senior sportscorrespondent for The News, a national daily.

Local cricketing politics are also at play behind Pakistan8217;s likely decision. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has publicly said that he is not happy with the preparations for the national squad for the World Cup, to be played next year in England.

A leading newspaper, The Nation, which is considered very close to Sharif and his party, reported in December that the name of Mujib ur Rehman, who heads the Islamabad Cricketing Association, had been finalised to take over as the chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board. Mujib ur Rehman is the brother of influential senator, Saif ur Rehman, who is a right-hand man of the Pakistan PM. However, the move, while thwarted at the last minute, may have been put in abeyance.

If Pakistan fares badly in India, the current setup in the Pakistan Cricket Board will be made to go, say observers. And this will mean the entry of Mujib Ur Rehman, they say. To check this, the choice before the current chairman, Khalid Mehmood,is to call off the tour and buy himself some time at the top.

The PCB chief executive, Majid Khan, will see his contract expire in March. This puts further pressure on the current setup.