India refuse to play in Malaysian tri-series

India has refused to take part in a tri-nation cricket tournament in Malaysia because Pakistan is also competing, a Pakistan Cricket Board official said on Tuesday.

India, however, denied having pulled out of the tournament, saying it had never agreed to play there in the first place.

"The Malaysian Cricket Association has informed us that the planned tri-series between Pakistan, India and Malaysia has been cancelled because of India's refusal to play," Brigadier Munawar Rana told Agence France-Presse.

Malaysia had invited Pakistan and India to join them for a tri-series tournament from January 28 to February 9 in Kuala Lumpur.

"They [India] have said time is short, but it is not an appropriate excuse," Rana said, claiming that the real reason for the India no-show was that they did not want to play Pakistan.

"It's disappointing that India has turned down the invitation because this would have given a tremendous boost to cricket in Malaysia."

But Jaywant Lele, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, told the Press Trust of India on telephone from Bombay, "There is no question of us pulling out [from the tournament]. We were just invited to play there, but its timing did not suit us. Therefore we did not accept the invitation."

Lele said India was not aware that Pakistan was also playing in the tournament. "We did not know who the other two parties were," he said.

Malaysian officials visited India last month to invite India for the series.

Earlier, the Indian government had refused to allow its cricket team to tour Pakistan because of political tensions between the two countries. The government has refused to review the decision despite pressure from the International Cricket Council.

"Pakistan would still love to play India anywhere in the world because contests between the two generate a lot of interest and following," Rana said.

"India's continued refusal to play Pakistan will affect the ICC's 10-year programme because Pakistan will lose financially every time India refuse to come," he added.

The ICC plans to finalise the cricket itinerary for the next decade in its meeting next month in Melbourne.

Rana, however, was optimistic the April triangular series in Sharjah involving Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka would go ahead as planned. "There should be no problem for the tri-series in Sharjah because it is held every year and is planned well before time."

Mail Cricket Editor