Lahore : Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ijaz Butt has no qualms about the team playing its World Cup semifinal against arch rivals India in India.
"I don't see any problems for us and I have also told the players to not worry about anything and justfocus 100 per cent on cricket," he said. Butt will be in India to watch World Cup matches, attend important meetings of International Cricket Council (ICC) in Mumbai and expected to have discussions with Indian board officials.
Butt said he was happy to note that players were eager to perform well in the semifinal even though they would play in India after a gap of nearly four years. "That is a very positive and good sign for me because the players are eager to do well against India in the semifinal."
PCB chief said "We have been given assurances of foolproof security for our players by our government and Indian authorities, so we are not worried at all, but we are also closely in touch with the authorities. We are confident that their will be no unpleasant incident during our team's s stay in India," he said.
He said right now PCB's main concern was that the team should continue to perform positively like it had been doing throughout the World Cup. "Our main concern is that regardless of the venue our playersshould remain focused on their game and continue to give their 100 per cent performance."
"The performance of our players to reach semifinal is commendable given what they have been through inrecent times. I don't think the fact that they are playing against a strong team like India in semifinal will affect their performance at all." He said PCB would definitely reward players for theirWorld Cup show but avoided making announcement to avoid deterring players’ attention from their main task.
"I don't see any problems for us and I have also told the players to not worry about anything and justfocus 100 per cent on cricket," he said. Butt will be in India to watch World Cup matches, attend important meetings of International Cricket Council (ICC) in Mumbai and expected to have discussions with Indian board officials.
Butt said he was happy to note that players were eager to perform well in the semifinal even though they would play in India after a gap of nearly four years. "That is a very positive and good sign for me because the players are eager to do well against India in the semifinal."
PCB chief said "We have been given assurances of foolproof security for our players by our government and Indian authorities, so we are not worried at all, but we are also closely in touch with the authorities. We are confident that their will be no unpleasant incident during our team's s stay in India," he said.
He said right now PCB's main concern was that the team should continue to perform positively like it had been doing throughout the World Cup. "Our main concern is that regardless of the venue our playersshould remain focused on their game and continue to give their 100 per cent performance."
"The performance of our players to reach semifinal is commendable given what they have been through inrecent times. I don't think the fact that they are playing against a strong team like India in semifinal will affect their performance at all." He said PCB would definitely reward players for theirWorld Cup show but avoided making announcement to avoid deterring players’ attention from their main task.
