12-18-2008, 04:07 PM
[center] <!--emo&:clapping--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /><!--endemo--> <b><span style='font-size:21pt;line-height:100%'>India's tour of Pakistan officially called off</span></b> <!--emo&:clapping--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/clap.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='clap.gif' /><!--endemo--> [/center]
<b>NEW DELHI : <span style='color:red'>The Board of Control for Cricket in India has been told by the government not to proceed with the tour taking into account the 'recent developments in Mumbai', a top BCCI official said.</span></b> <b><span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>( Watch )</span></b>
External affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee and sports minister MS Gill have also personally talked to BCCI president Shashank Manohar to convey their decision.
"The proposed tour of the Indian cricket team to Pakistan stands cancelled," BCCI official Rajeev Shukla told reporters.
India's Test and One-day tour due to start in the first week of January was in serious doubt due to strained bilateral relations between the neighbours following last month's militant attacks in Mumbai.
<b><span style='color:red'>The Pakistan Cricket Board could lose potential earnings of around $20 million if India cancel their tour starting next month, a cricket official said on Thursday.</span></b>
India were supposed to play 3 Tests, 5 ODIs and a Twenty20 match on the tour.
Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->