Chances of Pak touring
India ruled out

Pakistan Cricket Board president Lt General Tauqir Zia has put the ball in India's court yet again.

Speaking to rediff.com, Zia said India would first have to come to Pakistan in 2003 before his team can tour India.

Earlier, Zia had expressed a desire to send his team to India following the BCCI's reluctance to tour Pakistan.

"No more," he declared, when reminded about his statement.

"I have made it very clear that I will not talk to India at all. I have done enough in the past two-and-a-half years. I have supported the Indian team, Sunil Gavaskar and Zee TV a lot. I don't think I will support them in that way anymore."

According to the ICC ten-year schedule, India and Pakistan play each other thrice in the next six years.

"I am answerable to my people back home. If India does not want to play cricket I don't want to play with them too. They have to decide what they want to do. If India does not come to Pakistan in 2003 then I will not come to India in 2004," he said, adding "the ball is now in India's court."

In Colombo to attend the ICC executive committee meeting, Zia touched upon various subjects including the match-fixing episode.

Giving his players a clean chit he said till there is enough proof he will not pull up any player on mere suspicion.

"If I have proof I will sort them out; if I don't, then I should shut up. I may have a lot of suspicion and the ACU might have suspicion but the court does not work without proof. So the Bhandari Commission has worked on this knowledge and found out that there has been no evidence against any of these boys. No one has come up. Ali Bacher had put the allegation; Majid Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz did not come up with evidence. My team is clear of match-fixing charges."

Zia also explained the reasons behind the sacking of coach Mudassar Nazar and manager Yawar Saeed. He said since Pakistan had lost four-five tournaments he wanted to ascertain the reasons for the losses.

Some of the reasons, Zia pointed out, were lack of fitness of some senior players, differences between the coach and players, and the inability of the coach and manager to resolve the problems of the players.

"If the coach loses the confidence of the players then he has to go. I have not sacked Mudassar Nazar. He will take care of the national academy back home. Nazar was my national academy organizer. He also runs his business in Dubai and Pakistan. One man cannot do three jobs. So he had to go," he said.

Yousuf Youhana incident

He went on to explain why Yousuf Youhana was sent back from Nairobi in August.

"Youhana has been suffering with a shoulder problem. It has been exposed. When you say you have a shoulder problem but you run around and do all other jobs, it means you are dodging.

"One day he went to the team doctor, Dr Riaz, and told him that he had a problem. The team doctor probably did not attend to him the way he had expected. The doctor supposedly took some time before attending to him. This 'great star' could not wait, thinking he is a VVIP, and spoke in a high tone.

"When they went out for the nets, he was doing his own training with the doctor on the side. The captain [Waqar Younis] came up to him and told him to join the nets. The first time he did not listen; the second time he said he had a problem. There was a bit of a tiff. As a leader, the captain said 'you join the nets'. We have a tour discipline committee, headed by the manager, the coach, the skipper and the vice-captain. They all thought that Youhana's attitude over the past few days was not good towards the senior players, and particularly to the captain and team doctor.

"They decided to send him back to discipline him and send the message down to the younger members of the team.

"The day Youhana returned, he met me and explained the entire situation. I felt that the situation was blown out of proportion and sent him back. But when he rejoined the team his injury was exposed. His MRI was taken in Colombo and the doctor said he would have to undergo surgery to remove the cyst from his shoulder."