PILCOM (Pakistan-India-Lanka Committee) secretary/convenor Jagmohan Dalmiya has assured the Sri Lanka Cricket Board that they will be duly compensated for the losses in the Wills World Cup.
Sri Lanka who were co-hosts with India and Pakistan in holding cricket's sixth World Cup suffered heavy losses amounting to over one million US dollars when Australia and West Indies forfeited their matches by refusing to play here for security reasons.
The Sri Lanka Cricket Board made a claim to PILCOM, the organising committee of the tournament for compensation.
``We have received the claims from the Sri Lanka Cricket Board. We have also got claims from the main sponsor Indian Tobacco Company. We had a meeting of PILCOM in London and decided, this should be scrutinised and these claims be made against the Australian and West Indies boards for not coming to Sri Lanka,'' said Dalmiya in an exclusive interview.
``There is no reason why it should not be. We have forwarded these claims to the respective Cricket Boards, because we strongly believe that not coming here was not the right decision,'' said Dalmiya.
``They did not come not because of the security situation in Sri Lanka, but for some other reasons which meets the eye. We adequately demonstrated it by playing a match in Sri Lanka between the Wills World XI and Sri Lanka to tell them, don't overplay this,'' he said.
``Sri Lanka are our co-hosts and whether we get the money from Australia and West Indies or not, I very strongly advocate that the claims of the Sri Lankans must be looked into,'' Dalmiya further stated.
``PILCOM has made the money and they must come forward to see what can be done. But before we do that, we want to first pursue the claims from the Australian and West Indies Cricket Boards,'' he said.
Dalmiya who unsuccessfully ran for the chairmanship of the International Cricket Council (ICC) at Lord's in July said the white countries in the ICC feared the contribution Asia was making to cricket.
``If they fear what the Asian Cricket Council is doing, it is the most unfortunate thing. We are there to supplement and compliment the work of the ICC. A regional body cannot be a threat to the ICC,'' said Dalmiya.
``By doing this work we have put the ICC on their heels to do something more than what they are doing at present. It has taken them a long time to realise it. The ICC has done nothing so far to globalise cricket,'' he said.
The ACC in 1994, took a decision to globalise cricket. They decided to have a tournament for the associated members of the ICC in the Asian region, the winners of which will qualify to play in the Asia Cup. This year, the tournament is held in Malaysia with 12 associate members participating which includes countries like Japan, Brunei, Maldives, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Nepal and Thailand.
``To our pleasant surprise, China and South Korea as well as some of the middle east countries like Iran have shown a lot of interest. That will be a very big thing if we are able to rope them in. This is what is meant by globalisation,'' said Dalmiya.
With so many countries likely to become associate members of the ICC in the near future, Dalmiya is on a good wicket to contest the ICC chairmanship next year when the present chairman Sir Clyde Walcott's term comes to an end.
He was deprived of that post when Walcott decided that a twothird's majority was required from the nine full member countries instead of opening it out to all its members. The associate member countries have one vote each and the full member countries two each.
With Australian Malcolm Gray also being a front-runner for the post, Dalmiya could obtain support from only four countries, the same as his opponent with one abstaining.
What went against Dalmiya was the propaganda that was mounted in London that he would like to change the headquarters of the ICC from Lord's.
``What I said was something different. My views were grossly misinterpreted. What I said was whenever you have got a headquarters somewhere, it remains permanent, but there must be co-ordinating offices of the chairman and of other office-bearers. I was talking from the view point of serving the game better, to which probably I was misinterpreted,'' he said.
Dalmiya will contest the ICC chairmanship next year, if he is nominated by the Indian Cricket Board of which he is presently the secretary. He has been serving cricket since first becoming the treasurer of the Board in 1984.
Dalmiya who hails from Calcutta is a successful businessman who has made cricket the main priority.
``I will serve cricket and continue to do so. I will quit the day the people find I cannot serve the game,'' he said.