India last month refused to send its team to Pakistan amid heightened tensions following the November attacks on its financial hub Mumbai, which New Delhi has blamed on militants based across the border.

India’s tour cancellation cost the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) “at least 40 million dollars (2.8 billion rupees),” PCB chairman Ijaz Butt told reporters after addressing a hearing of the Senate’s sports committee.

He admitted that the PCB was in a “terrible financial position.”

“Emergency steps are needed, otherwise we will have no money and will have to carry a begging bowl before the government,” he said, adding that the PCB’s reserves had fallen from 3.3 billion to 1.5 billion rupees over the past two years.

Pakistan has been a virtual no-go zone for foreign teams since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, which sparked major security fears for teams concerned about suicide and other attacks.

The cancellation of India’s tour was the third major cricket event called off in Pakistan last year, after Australia refused to tour in March and the ICC postponed the elite eight-nation Champions Trophy set for August 2008.

Rescheduled for September-October this year, the Champions Trophy is likely to generate five million dollars for Pakistan if it goes ahead, Butt said.

Butt also said that he inherited a troubled financial set-up when he joined the PCB as chairman last year.

“Our finances stood at 42 million dollars in October 2006, but when I took over as the chairman in October last year it was just 19 million dollars,” Butt told the committee.

The PCB convinced Sri Lanka to replace India who will tour Pakistan in two segments, playing three one-dayers from January 18 and then returning in February for a two-Test series.

Butt said he fears Australia will not tour Pakistan later this year but added that three neutral venues — Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and England — were options in ensuring the series goes ahead.

“We want to host Australia in Pakistan but if they have their security concerns, these are the three venues which will come up for discussions when I meet officials of Cricket Australia in Perth later this month.”

The PCB chairman is due to attend ICC’s executive board meeting from January 31-February 1 in Perth, Australia. -AFP

“We have secured the tax exemption from the provincial and PCB put the sale of ticket through branches of Bank Alfalah,” Secretary KCCA Syed Sirajul Islam Bukhari said here. He said PCB in collaboration with KCCA will organizing the match.

Giving the denominations of tickets, he said Javed Miandad, Hanif Muhammad and Fazal Mahmood enclosure will be Rs.600, Imran Khan, Wasim Akram Rs.400, Waqar Hasan, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal enclosure Rs.250.

Rates for Quaid and family enclosure will be Rs.150. The General enclosure will be Rs.50 only.

The first meeting of the Organizing Committee for first ODI will be held at National Stadium on Wednesday at 3.00 P.M.

KCCA President and Sindh Sports Minister. Dr Muhammad Ali Shah will preside over the meeting.

In all, 125 under 14, u‑15 and u‑16 players from Bahawalpur appeared on the opening day of the two‑day trials at Moti Ullah Hockey Stadium Bahawalpur,said the information made available here.

Selection Committee scrutinized 20 players out of 125.

After the trials 40 shining players short listed initially.

A selection committee headed Anjum Saeed (chairman), Gulraiz Sheikh and Shabir Ahmad along with coaches of Bahawalpur Academy Hidayat Ullah (PIA), Muhammad Arshad (Wapda) and Muhammad Taimur (Bahawalpur) watched the trials.

“ We have so far have picked 20 players and we will be finalising a list of 40 players to attend the academy “,said the chairman of the selection committee.

The trials to select the players for PHF Hockey academy Peshawar were held at Lala Ayub Stadium Peshawar and on the first day of trials nearly 77 players participated. Selection committee short listed 17 players on the first day. Selection Committee of NWFP Naeem Akhtar (Chairman), Zia Banori, Rahim Khan and Musaddiq Khan along with coaches of PHF hockey academy Peshawar Mussadiq Hussain (PIA), Rahim Khan (PIA) and Zia Banori (Peshawar) picked 17 players.

On Wednesday, the trials will start at 9am at Lala Ayub Stadium Peshawar while the trials will be held at Hockey Club of Pakistan Karachi for PHF academy no.2 Karachi. The selection committee of Sindh Selection Committee of Sindh Waseem Feroze (Chairman), Mumtaz Haider, Farooq Khan and M.  Khalid along with coaches of academy no.2 Karachi Asif Ahmad (NBP), Safdar Abbas (Karachi) and Muhammad Anis (NBP) will observe the trials.

A gap in between of over two weeks thus paves the way for Sri Lanka to host a potential one-day series against India.

After much negotiation and tweaking of provisional itineraries, Sri Lanka will now arrive in Pakistan on January 18 to play three day-night ODIs, leave and then come back on February 14th to play two Tests.

“The ODIs will be played on January 21, 24 and 27 at Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad respectively,” Salim Altaf, chief operating officer PCB, told Cricinfo.

“They will then come back on February 14 to play two Tests in Karachi and Lahore.

Those dates will be announced soon,” he said.

The gap in between allows Sri Lanka to ink in a series against India, something their sports minister Gamini Lokuge said was “60% certain” recently.

Though BCCI officials have confirmed that contact has been made unofficially with Sri Lanka for a possible ODI series in between, they maintain they will consider a series against Sri Lanka only after they get a response from New Zealand Cricket (NZC) on their request for an additional Test for India’s tour in March.

That series starts on March 6 and currently includes two Tests, five ODIs and one Twenty20.

Duleep Mendis, the SLC CEO, told Cricinfo that though they have prepared a split tour itinerary with a one-day series against India in mind, nothing has been officially firmed up yet.

“We are still in the process of finalising the India series,” Mendi said.

“All I can say is that if that series goes ahead, it will happen in Sri Lanka.” The fixture scramble is essentially the result of India pulling out from their tour to Pakistan in January-February after the Indian government refused to grant the team permission to travel across the border.

Relations between the two neighbours are at a low as a result of the Mumbai attacks last November.

Sri Lanka agreed to replace India and travel to cricket-starved Pakistan.

But finalising the itinerary proved trickier than was originally forseen as the resulting gap in India’s schedule meant they were also looking for ways to fill it, potentially through a series against Sri Lanka and the extra Test against New Zealand.

The Pakistan Cricket Board last week opted to keep the 26-year-old Malik on as captain for the foreseeable future, with PCB chairman Ijaz Butt telling AFP there was “no reason to replace him” when his tenure expired on December 31.

Malik said the move had motivated him to take Pakistan to new heights.

“Ever since I took over the team, my aim has been for us to fight and play as a unit, so that remains the prime target, and I aim to take Pakistan to the top place in the world,” Malik told AFP on Tuesday.

“I am thankful to the PCB, the PCB chairman for showing faith and confidence in me. I will always try my level best to keep the team on the winning track.”

Malik was appointed captain after Pakistan’s humiliating first-round exit from the World Cup held in the West Indies in 2007.

Since then, he has led Pakistan in only three Tests, losing two and drawing one. Pakistan did not play a single Test in 2008 after Australia postponed their tour over security fears.

Malik has led Pakistan in 33 one-day internationals, winning 23 and losing 10.

He led Pakistan to a 3-0 win over the West Indies in their neutral venue series in Abu Dhabi in November last year — a victory that helped convince the sport’s governors to extend his captaincy.

Malik’s next assignment will be a home series with Sri Lanka who agreed to tour Pakistan after India pulled out of a planned trip in January-February this year.

The PCB said it hopes to finalise the Sri Lanka series schedule later this week. Sri Lanka are expected to play five one-day internationals, three Tests and a Twenty20 international.