Pakistan may reject playing 2011 World Cup matches in India

The 2011 World Cup, scheduled in the sub-continent, ran into fresh trouble with a senior cricket board official here indicating that Pakistan might decline to play its matches in India.

Saleem Altaf, chief operating officer of the Pakistan Cricket Board, said PCB would take its time before deciding where it would play its 2011 World Cup matches.

"It is our right to decide where we play our World Cup matches now that the games have been relocated from Pakistan," he said.

PCB officials and former players remain upset after the International Cricket Council decided on Friday to shift the World Cup matches from Pakistan due to security reasons.

Pakistan was due to host 14 games, including one semi-final, and the home side was supposed to play all its matches in front of home crowds.

But the ICC now has to reschedule and allocate new venues for these 14 matches with India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, the joint hosts of the tournament, vying to get those games.

Indications are that India is likely to bag majority share of the World Cup matches shifted from Pakistan.

Altaf said the ICC had still not decided where the matches shifted from Pakistan would be held but when the time comes, Pakistan would like to make its own choice.

Altaf's comments indicate that the PCB is not particularly keen at this stage to play its games in India. "But we don't know what the situation would be in the next few months, given the strained relations between Pakistan and India.

"So it is a wait-and-watch game," one source said.

Following the ICC decision, many former players have called on the PCB to review its blind trust in the Indian cricket board.

The PCB has been asked to adopt an independent policy and allow Indian Cricket League players back into the national team.