Pakistan journalists not satisfied by tour arrangements
KANPUR, India: Pakistani journalists covering their cricket team’s current tour of India have been facing real hardships due to a hectic series itinerary prepared by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with the approval of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
They kick-started the tour on the wrong foot after Indian authorities issued them visas after the opening ODI in Guwahati and since then it has been quite a bumpy ride, to say the least.
The first group of Pakistani journos arrived in Indian via New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon and had to make a seven-hour journey by road to reach Mohali in time for the second one-dayer held there on November 8 (Thursday).
Indian authorities are currently undertaking massive construction work on the highway linking the country’s capital to the eastern city of Chandigarh and traffic jams in and outside New Delhi are a routine these days.
Oblivious of such projects, the journalists opted for the road trip after told that all trains going to Chandigarh were fully booked because of Diwali. From Chandigarh, the reporters had to return to Delhi after the match, via rail and after an overnight stay took early morning training to Kanpur, almost 500 kilometres away from Delhi.
In Kanpur, the journalists were in for an unpleasant surprise as the city has just a couple of decent hotels and all of them were fully occupied. “The Board (PCB) shouldn’t have agreed to this hectic itinerary,” said one of the visiting journalists.
“Its right that the Pakistan team is travelling to all these venues via chartered flights but the Board officials also have spared a thought for the Pakistani journalists covering the series,” he added pointing out that the PCB should have tried to work out a better itinerary.
“How could you agree to play the first match of the tour less than 24 hours after your team’s arrival,” said another reporter referring to Pakistan’s warm-up game against Delhi team on November 2 before the ODI series.
The itinerary prepared by the Indians got the nod of approval from the PCB which sent one of its top officials to India earlier this year to inspect the venues and facilities there.
Source: The News
Date:11/11/2007
” 
” 
” 
” 
” 
