Show must go on

The 2011 World Cup will go ahead even if it means playing all matches in India, says IS Bindra, principal advisor to International Cricket Council

Show must go on

The 2011 World Cup will go ahead even if it means playing all matches in India, says IS Bindra, principal advisor to International Cricket Council

Inderjit Singh Bindra, principal advisor to the International Cricket Council (ICC), has said the 2011 World Cup will go ahead even if it means all of the matches being played in India.

"We won't jump to that conclusion, but if the situation is bad, India is big enough to stage the competition," he told a London newspaper yesterday.

"The World Cup has 59 matches spread over eight franchises. The next World Cup has 49 matches."
Bindra also said he was "100 per cent certain" the IPL would go ahead as planned, despite the reservations of some players".

(One of them is former England captain Kevin Pietersen, who told a London tabloid: "If I don't think its right then I'll not be going").

Business as usual: Inderjit Singh Bindra

The paper also quotesu00a0 Matthew Kennedy, the ICC's global manager, as saying that war-ravaged Afghanistan will be one of 12 countries competing, in April in South Africa, for the last four places in the World Cup.

"For a part of the world which has been in the news for other reasons, this is a great story," he said.

The Afghanistan team consists of players who had learned the game in refugee camps in Pakistan, and play on the roughest of grounds in the areas controlled by Western forces. They won divisions Five, Four and Three of the World Cricket League to reach the play-offs.

A piquant situation will arise if Afghanistan qualify for the 14-team World Cup and the Taliban prevent them from playing, preferring them to wield swords rather than bats.

"I was reading on the Internet about the Taliban's attitude to cricket," Bindra said. "They say Muslims should use swords not bats. They say cricket in Asia is like opium in the 19th century China a tool of imperial powers. It is a very pernicious philosophy."

Don't compromise, Pak
Calling moves to have Pakistan play at neutral venues a "booby trap", Bindra also believes that country should not compromise.

He says Pakistan will cease to be a Test-playing country if they do so. "How do youngsters watch and learn the game if Pakistan does not play at home," he asked.

"Give Pakistan a chance to get their act together and they must ensure presidential-style security. But, ultimately, this is something that cannot be tackled by cricket administrators but by global powers."

With Pakistan a failed, if not an out-and-out rogue state, which has seen its presidents and other senior leaders including Benazir Bhutto killed with almost monotonous regularity, one wonders if "presidential-style security" will allay the fears of cricketing nations, especially after the latest (Lahore) carnage.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels