South Block

The five-member committee of the Cricket Board, set up in the wake of telecast rights controversy involving its holder Nimbus and public broadcaster Prasar Bharti, will meet to discuss the issue here on Thursday.

BCCI Vice-Presidents Shashank Manohar and Lalit Modi, Treasurer N Srinivasan, and Marketing Committee member and former chief I S Bindra will meet at colleague Arun Jaitley’s residence to discuss Nimbus’ threat to pull out of the four-year deal worth USD 612 million.

But even as the BCCI frantically tries to salvage the situation, the big question that has cropped up is whether the recent broadcast Ordinance will result in significant devaluation of the cricket telecast rights.

Nimbus chairman Harish Thawani denied his company has threatened to renege its contract with the BCCI, but his letter certainly has made it clear that its product would be very much diluted if it had to share the live match feed with Doordarshan.

“The letter (from Nimbus) talks about material damages and the reduction in income. But we have put that aside for now and are trying to find a solution,” BCCI Vice-President Rajeev Shukla said after an emergency meeting of the Board here yesterday.

At the heart of the matter is Nimbus’ insistence that Prasar Bharti should restrict its transmission of the live match feed to its terrestrial channel and encrypt its signals, both of which have been rebuffed.

Doordarshan has cited lack of technical capability to encrypt its signals while also transmitting it on its DTH channel which has subscribers outside the country as well.

A three-member Delhi Police team on Thursday left for the West Indies to join the National Security Guards (NSG) in coordinating and providing security to the Indian cricket team during the World Cup.

Deputy commissioner of police Madhup Tiwari will join the NSG team to coordinate their deployment during the 48-day mega event.

The team of two police officials, headed by Tiwari, was formed to assist the NSG and avoid any mishap during the team’s stay in the West Indies, additional commissioner of police Depandra Pathak said.

“We received a letter from the home affairs ministry to send a team of officials to assist and coordinate with the NSG,” he added.

The ministry decided to send the NSG following possible terror threats to Team India in the World Cup. Some members of the Indian squad face threats from militant groups like Lashker-e-Taiba and other such outfits.

A 16-member NSG team has already taken charge in the West Indies for assisting the organisers of the Cricket World Cup to provide security to the players, especially the Indian squad.

Delhi Police and NSG personnel will keep a strict watch at World Cup venues where the team is scheduled to play its matches, Pathak said.

The World Cup is seen as a potential target for terrorists, and India, England, Pakistan, South Africa and Sri Lanka are the top security risks. According to intelligence reports, 29 potential troublemakers have been identified and prevented from entering the region.

The indifferent form of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has alarmed Pakistani cricket authorities since returning to competitive cricket after being controversially cleared of a drug-related ban earlier this month.

Well-placed sources told this correspondent on Sunday that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials are double-minded whether to recall Shoaib in their squad for next month’s important tour of South Africa after watching his lacklustre bowling in a few domestic games recently.

It is quite visible that Shoaib, known in the cricket world as the ‘Rawalpindi Express’, is yet to gather pace after missing Pakistan’s last two assignments - the International Cricket Council (ICC) Champions Trophy and the home series against the West Indies - because of a doping ban.

The world’s fastest bowler turned out to be quite harmless for local cricketers when he starred for Rawalpindi Rams in the ongoing Twenty20 Cup in Karachi.

Shoaib took just one wicket in two matches as his team crashed out of the event at the first hurdle.

Shoaib, 31, also played a four-day Patron’s Trophy game for KRL where he did show some sparks by taking three wickets against WAPDA after going wicketless in the first innings. KRL lost that match.

National selectors have made it clear that Shoaib will have to prove his form and fitness in domestic matches to earn a recall in the Pakistan team for the tour of South Africa. The proof they need, however, is not yet visible.

Now Shoaib has one more platform to show the PCB, national selectors and the Pakistan team management that he is still an asset - a conditioning camp getting underway in Lahore from tomorrow.

The injury-prone Shoaib is a part of a 25-man list of probables, which would form the brief conditioning camp during which Pakistan would pick their squad for the Test series against South Africa getting underway with the first match at Centurion from January 11.

“Shoaib is walking on thin ice,” said an official on the condition of anonymity. “His fitness history is far from encouraging and might become a stumbling block for the bowler’s international return in the current circumstances,” he added.

Shoaib, who has taken 165 wickets from 42 Tests, is one of the several fast bowlers in contention for the tour of South Africa.

They include Mohammad Asif, who was initially banned along with Shoaib for doping last month. Asif has made an effortless return to competitive cricket after being cleared by an appeals committee of any doping offences and is all set to spearhead the Pakistani attack in South Africa.

Then there are more pacers who have shown good form in recent international outings like Umar Gul, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami and the lanky Shabbir Ahmed, who has been allowed to return to international cricket after serving a 12-month ban for an illegal bowling action.

Time is running out for Shoaib as Pakistan are to announce their touring party for South Africa within the next few days. He will have to come out with a convincing display of fast bowling and he will have to do that quickly.