Keep political importance of tour in mind: PCB

The Pakistan Cricket Board has asked its Indian counterpart to see the "political importance" of its upcoming tour and not to blow up "small incidents" even as the local media stepped up pressure on it to make similar conditions when the team tours India.

"Small incidents should not take away the political importance of the Indian tour to Pakistan which is taking place after a gap of 15 years," PCB spokesman Sami-ul Hassan said on Friday, reacting to the BCCI's condition in the MoU that crowd violence, like even a stone throwing incident, could result in the tour being called off.

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The PCB has expressed reservations about such a clause in the MoU finalised by the two Boards and said small incidents should be not be allowed to affect the spirit of the tour.

"This tour is too important, not simply from the cricketing point of view but also very significant from the point of view of improving relations between the two countries," he said.

He said Pakistan has been doing all it could to make fool-proof security arrangements and the two countries should keep the larger picture in mind.

Local media reports have quoted PCB officials as saying that they too would want the BCCI to make identical arrangements, when Pakistan tours India.

"We have been accepting all their demands, which at times are irritating, but we would want the same set of procedures and facilities when we tour that country," an official was quoted as saying by the local daily Dawn in Islamabad on Friday.

Like the BCCI, the PCB, too, will send an advance party to assess security and reserve the right not to play Test matches at centres like Mumbai, the stronghold of the Shiv Sena, in retaliation to India skipping centres like Karachi and Peshawar on the grounds that the cities are prone to violence, PCB officials were quoted as saying in the reports.

They said Pakistan in turn will play three Tests and as many One-Day Internationals during their tour, likely next February.

"We will assess ground realities before the tour and only if our security concerns are addressed, we will play at a certain venue."

A three-member Indian team recently visited all the six centres in Pakistan to review security arrangements and agreed to play only One-Day Internationals at Peshawar and Karachi and declined to play Test matches there.

India will play three Test matches and five One-Day Internationals during its 40-day tour, beginning on March 10.