Pakistan googly: Will Kotla be ready in time?

The sticking point appears to be the preparedness of the ground, currently undergoing an extensive revamp. ‘‘I hope this will be completed in time,’’ Zakir said after the 45-minute visit to Kotla. ‘‘We will discuss this with the BCCI. If they guarantee that it will be ready in time, we will have to believe them.’’

‘‘We expect to start laying the grass by February 10 and by March 10 the ground will be ready,’’ joint secretary (company affairs) Anil Jain said. ‘‘Only the corporate box would be left for completion. But everything else will be ready by March 20 and we are fully confident of hosting Pakistan.’’ Asked whether the BCCI pitches and grounds committee was involved in wicket preparation, Anil Jain said: ‘‘We are doing things as per instructions from the BCCI panel. Its chairman Venkat Sundaram has been visiting the ground to give suggestions. In fact, we’ll play a couple of friendly games on the new wickets to test them.’’

There was a minor goof-up when the Pakistanis reached Kotla: there were no DDCA officials to receive them, though they were accompanied by BCCI vice-president Rajiv Shukla.

‘‘We were not informed of their visit to the ground because it was unscheduled,’’ the DDCA’s Jain later clarified.

He said that the Pakistani team came to the ground straight after its meeting with Home Ministry officials, which didn’t last as long as expected. ‘‘Anyway, Rajiv Shukla is a director of the DDCA’’, he added.

However, a few DDCA officials, including vice-president Chetan Chauhan, arrived shortly afterwards.

The Pakistan cricket team is expected to arrive on February 25 to play three Tests and five one-day internationals, the dates and venues of which are yet to be finalised.