BCCI's non-issue of match tickets leaves Pakistanis stranded

The Pakistan Cricket Board is still awaiting the 3000 tickets promised to it by the BCCI for the much-anticipated Twenty20 and ODI series in India later this month.

A PCB source said that although a long list of requests had been received by the three travel agencies designated to handle the requests from Pakistanis wishing to travel to India for the matches, none had been processed due to non availability of tickets.

"The process outlined by the Indian High Commission is clear, the special visas will only be processed and issued if the applicants apply with tickets for the venues they want to travel to," the source disclosed.

"The problem facing the PCB and the travel agencies is that since they haven't got the tickets as yet from the BCCI, they can't process any of the requests."

Another source said the BCCI had recommended names of some hotels where the Pakistani visitors can stay during their visit to India but even they are not yet complete.

"The main problem is that the PCB has only authorised these three travel agencies to deal with requests for the matches in India. And until they don't have the tickets, they can't do anything," he said.

The source feared that with time running out, the requests may have to be diverted to the last two ODIs particularly the last one in Delhi.

"The PCB will only know how many tickets the BCCI has allocated for each venue when they get the tickets," the source said.

The Pakistan team is due to leave for India on Saturday for the long-awaited series that will last till January 6.

The source said the PCB was constantly reminding the BCCI to send the tickets.