This article appeared in 'Daily Times' on 08 June 2006

One of the areas in which Pakistan and India have seen faster cooperation to the advantage of both sides, is cricket. This is not without reason: cricket is the number one sport in both countries, as it is in most of South Asia, and it has the potential to bring the two sides together. But even more importantly, the current PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) chairman Shaharyar M Khan has deftly brought his skills of diplomacy, picked up from a long service in the Foreign Office, and wedded them to his own love for cricket to turn the PCB into a viable and vibrant organisation. The level of cooperation developed by Mr Khan with the Indian Board for Control of Cricket is evident from the fact that Sharad Pawar, the BCCI president, floated the idea of South Asia jointly hosting the 2011 cricket World Cup. Together, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, beat the tough competition from Oceania (Australia and New Zealand) by 10 votes to 3 on June 1 at the ICC meeting in Dubai. Earlier, the PCB had also won the right to hold the eight-nation Champions’ Trophy. Just two days ahead of the ICC decision to grant South Asia the right to hold the World Cup, analysts were betting on the Australia-New Zealand duo because of the better cricketing facilities in the two countries.

Some hard lobbying, however, got South Asia the prize it coveted, though of course Pakistan will now have to do the much-needed work to improve the infrastructure all round for the event. On that score, while the PCB has recently done well to make some improvements, a lot of distance has still to be covered. In some venues, while stadiums are now being maintained, the cities lack the basic facilities required to host an event of international standard. This means the PCB will also have to co-opt the provincial and district governments and get them to provide funds for infrastructure development.

However, such work involves the will to make a difference. The PCB has done good work to get Pakistan out of a very bad patch when some terrorist acts had forced teams to stay away and insist on playing Pakistan outside Pakistan. The situation has improved tremendously and a number of teams have played in Pakistan since then. The PCB chairman should be commended for this hard and difficult work. The government is definitely interested in improving Pakistan’s image and the PCB has done its bit to that end. Hosting the World Cup is another step in that direction. The government must ensure that the PCB gets the funds it needs to improve facilities. *

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