India-Pak bilateral ties to resume soon?
The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Ijaz Butt on Thursday said that the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given assurance that bilateral cricketing ties between the two countries would resume soon.
- Press Trust of India
- Updated: March 31, 2011 04:59 PM IST
The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Ijaz Butt on Thursday said that the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has given assurance that bilateral cricketing ties between the two countries would resume soon.
Butt told reporters at the Wagah border after returning from Mohali that his meetings with the Chairman of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Sharad Pawar and the President of the Indian Cricket Board (BCCI) Shashank Manohar had been fruitful.
"They both are in agreement that there is a need to now work on having a bilateral series soon and the modalities will soon be looked into," Butt said.
"The Indian Prime Minister has also indicated that the bilateral ties will resume soon," he added.
Butt also rubbished that the Pakistan team had lost to India in the World Cup semi-final because of spot-fixing.
"This talk about the match being fixed is rubbish. The fact is India played better cricket than us on the day and deserved to win the match," he said.
The former Test player said that he was satisfied with the performance of the Pakistan team in the World Cup, although their performance in the semi-final could have been much better.
"I thought our fielding was not up to the mark and you can't drop four or five chances in a World Cup semi-final and still expect to win against India. Our batsmen also didn't play according to the situation and Misbah-ul-Haq batted slowly."
Butt also felt that captain Shahid Afridi should have opted for the batting powerplay as soon as he had come to the crease.
He, however, defended Umar Gul, saying that he was a match winner but just had a bad day in the field yesterday.
"It can happen to any player," he said.
The PCB chief also backed the decision of the management to play left-arm pacer Wahab Riaz instead of the experienced Shoaib Akhtar in the crucial semi-final.
"I think Wahab showed with his performance he was a better choice than Shoaib. Unfortunately, there were fitness issues with Shoaib and it is a fact that in his second spell he found it difficult to even stand on the field."