Letter from BCCI - 26 May 2006

Dear Mr Shaharyar Khan,

Congratulations for an excellent joint bid produced by our four subcontinetal boards that compelled the International Cricket Council Board of Directors to vote us to organize the 2011 World Cup.

If the Asian Subcontinent has been able to win the bid, it is largely because of your timely reminder to us about the compliance document when the new office-bearers had just taken over the reins of the Board of Control for Cricket in India in November. Thanks a lot for rescuing the bid which we would have, for all practical purposes, lost by default.

I must compliment particularly you and your Board on an excellent document ably presented by our colleague Inderjit Singh Bindra in Dubai over the weekend. That such a comprehensive compliance document was produced well before the final deadline is a testimony to the resilience with which the four Boards worked. Importantly, we have been able to produce a thoroughly professional document, fulfilling the demands of the strict hosting criteria laid down by the ICC.

Thus our four Boards have proved yet again that the Asian subcontinent is competent enough to take on any gigantic responsibility and carry it out as well as anyone else can.

As we are all aware, winning the bid is only a part of the whole exercise. The bigger challenges are ahead and I have no hesitation that we would be able to make the 2011 World Cup a truly fantastic and memorable one. As leading players on the global stage, India and Pakistan can take a small measure of credit for promoting and marketing the game by agreeing to play at offshore venues and winning the World Cup bid underscores the point.

It is a great tribute to the sagacity of our predecessors in our Boards that we are seen on the same side and proceeding on the same wavelength on crucial cricketing matters. Without your unstinted cooperation and backing we would not have been able to achieve whatever we could in promoting the game globally. We are greatly indebted to you for everything you did in making it possible for all of us to bid for the 2011 World Cup. I thank you once again.

Best wishes and warm regards,

Sharad Pawar
President
Board of Control for Cricket in India

(Article: Copyright © 2006 Pakistan Cricket Board)