India Is Not Safe For 2011 World Cup: Miandad told ICC

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A Former captain Javed Miandad argued in International Cricket Council's recent Dubai meeting that if Pakistan is unsafe to host 2011 World Cup matches, India is not a safe venue either.

Sources privy to the meeting that took place in Dubai last week said Miandad, now a director-general of the Pakistan Cricket Board, and governing council member Shakil Sheikh made the strong plea that if the ICC had security concerns about having the World Cup matches in Pakistan, the situation in India and Bangladesh was also not encouraging.

"They argued that the security situation in India had also not been very good in recent times and there was no guarantee it would not deteriorate in coming months while the situation in Bangladesh also remained uncertain," the source said.

The duo claimed that there were also doubts about India hosting the hockey World Cup or Commonwealth Games in 2010.

ICC President David Morgan and CEO Haroon Lorgat told the PCB delegation, led by president Ejaj Butt, that apart from the attack in the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, financial reasons also played its part in the decision to move the 2011 World Cup matches from Pakistan.

"Morgan and Lorgat told the PCB delegation that the ICC had already suffered financial losses due to the late relocation of the Champions Trophy from Pakistan," one source told PTI. "They made it clear that because of the security situation the ICC was forced to move the Champions Trophy out of Pakistan after considerable delay which had already led to losses in earnings from the tournament," the source added.

The source disclosed that Morgan and Lorgat had told the PCB members that no executive board member was willing to play in Pakistan following the unprecedented attack on the Sri Lankan team.

"Morgan and Lorgat noted that such an incident had never happened in any country to any cricket team and it was a big setback for Pakistan cricket. They insisted the attack had changed the views of many ICC member boards who earlier were undecided about playing in Pakistan," the source said.
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