Source: Reuters
KARACHI - The Pakistan cricket board has insured all its future tour program (FTP) series amidst the prospect of touring teams, particularly Australia, backing out due to security concerns and political unrest.
A senior board official told Reuters on Monday the insured series included the Australian tour in March-April.
“We have got all our FTP series insured because we don’t know what situation we might face from touring teams,” Shafqat Naghmi, chief operating officer of the board, said on Monday.“So all this talk of us putting the Australian players at risk by insisting on their tour because of financial gains is baseless,” he said.
“It is not meant to send out negative signal to any team but to safeguard our finances.”According to sources, the Australia series has been insured for around $7.4 million.
The PCB had made arrangements to cover its financial losses regardless of whether Australia toured Pakistan or not, he said.The Australia tour has been in doubt since the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in December and following a wave of suicide bomb attacks in the country.
Some Australia players have also expressed concerns over touring Pakistan but Cricket Australia has said it had yet to take any decision.Naghmi was confident the tour would go ahead as scheduled.
“We know that the Australian high commission has given a positive report to their government and the statement of (incoming) International Cricket Council president David Morgan is also very positive for us,” he said.Morgan, who will take over as ICC chief from South Africa’s Ray Mali in June, recently urged Australia to tour Pakistan.
Naghmi said the board was very keen on Australia coming because they had not toured Pakistan since 1998.“Our people want to see good cricket and the Australians can bring in the crowds,” he said. “Their tour will have a good impact on Pakistan cricket.”
Naghmi was hopeful Australia will come if the current tour by Zimbabwe went off smoothly.
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