Will there be an end to the impasse?

Where India-Pakistan encounters are concerned, uncertainty remains the name of the game till the last moment. Given the peculiar background to these contests, nothing can be taken for granted until the two teams take the field. It is not enough if the two boards select the team or if the governments give the clearance. Something untoward can still take place even after all this.

One's mind goes back to January 1999. The government clearance had been obtained, the Indian team was picked and the Pakistan side were on the verge of leaving for the tour. Shiv Sena activists tactically picked this time to put a spoke in the wheel by digging up the pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla in New Delhi and making it clear that the Pakistan team was not welcome. Suddenly the tour was in doubt all over again - and it is worth recalling that this was the first tour by either country in almost a decade and the first visit by Pakistan for 12 years. Ultimately, having committed themselves to the tour, the Indian government decided that the Pakistan team would land in the country and go ahead with the matches but at a price - the security was unprecedented.

The scenario is not very different now. The Sahara Cup five match series is scheduled to commence in Toronto from September 9. With only a month left, normally the squad - or at least the probables - would have been announced as also the venue for the camp. But for the Sahara Cup, we have already had the selection of the team postponed once. Now comes the announcement from Indian Cricket Board secretary JY Lele that the team will be selected at Bangalore on August 19. The working committee of the Board is also scheduled to meet on August 20 to take a final decision on the new code of conduct.

So does that mean that one can assume that the long awaited government clearance for the trip to Toronto has been obtained? Don't bet on it. ``Let us not talk about the government clearance now,'' said Lele when pressed on the issue. ``The BCCI president (AC Muthiah) has asked me to convene a meeting to pick the team for the Sahara Cup and it has been fixed on August 19 at Bangalore in consultation with selection committee chairman Chandu Borde,'' he said.

According to reports, the fact that the board has convened the selection committee meeting could mean that the government has given its consent. But Sports Minister SS Dhindsa seemed to put a spanner in the works by making it clear that the government would not be hustled into taking a decision on the matter.

``With Pakistan continuing to cause the deaths of innocent people in Kashmir, any India-Pakistan series ceased to be just a sporting encounter in the minds of our people. This is a sensitive issue and we have to take the emotions too of our countrymen while taking a decision,'' Dhindsa told a news agency in New Delhi on Tuesday.

There is no such problem with Pakistan. The Director (Operations) of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Yawar Saeed has said that the board would be willing to send its team to Toronto even if the Indian Government fails to send its team. He said he had been informed by Indian Cricket Board officials that a decision regarding the Toronto series would be taken by August 19. But he clarified that even if India fails to turn up, then Pakistan was ready to play any opposition since it was bound by a five year contract with the IMG. He said that like last year if India refuses to play Pakistan, the organisors would arrange for a third team and reiterated that the PCB would fulfil its commitment to play in Canada.

When Dhindsa's attention was drawn to this, he said ``they can do what they want. We will do only what is in our national interest. We can't be hustled into taking a decision.'' It is interesting to note that last year, in the wake of the Kargil crisis, India made the trip to Toronto but did not play Pakistan. Instead both the teams played three games each against West Indies. So there are various options open to the government and the cricket officials. Which one will they opt for?