Looking at cricket from both sides

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">MUMBAI: Board joint honourary secretary Prof Ratnakar Shetty is back in Mumbai after completing ‘‘one of the most important assignments of his career’’. He was one of the three members who visited Pakistan for a recce of the facilities. <br /><br />Shetty’s brief was to check on the players and media facilities and he was very impressed with what he saw.‘‘All the stadiums have excellent facilities and Multan is as good as Mohali,’’ said Shetty who returned on Monday. As the cricket fans eagerly await the committee’s report, Times News Network caught up with Shetty at the Mumbai Cricket Association office on Tuesday evening.<br /><br />Excerpts:<br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Did you experience any hostility among the general public against the series?</span><br />On the contrary they are quite enthusiastic. There is a keenness to have a look at the current Indian players as apart from Sachin Tendulkar, they have not seen any of the current players. There is lot of excitement about Irfan Pathan, Zaheer Khan, Sehwag and Ganguly. And Laxman now has become very popular there.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">How did you find the situation in Peshawar and Multan?</span><br />Amrit Mathur (Board communications director) and myself were looking at the players’ and media facilities. As for the security aspect, Yashovardhan Azad is a specialist in this field, and he was handling everything related to security. The Board had made it very clear before we left that we will go by his report. <br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Did what was shown to you appear stage-managed?</span><br />No, it appeared genuine.<br /><br /><span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">Was there any attempt or pressure from the Indian or Pakistan side to give only the</span> <span style="" font-weight:="" bold="">good points?</span><br />No, I don’t think so. The PCB officials also realised that although we were interested in the bilateral ties being resumed after the government gave the approval, our concern was the players’ comfort and security.</div> </div>