13 (NNN): Even as clouds over the series are still be cleared, the Anti-Corruption Unit of the International Cricket Council (ICC) has assigned three of its regional security officers for the Pakistan and India series starting next month.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) spokesman Samiul Hasan confirmed that besides the ACU regional security officer assigned in Pakistan - Colonel (retd) Muhammad Nur - two other ACU regional security officers would also be posted for the series.
"Besides Colonel Nur, the ACU has informed us that John Rhodes of Australia and N S Virk of India would also be posted in the series," he said.
Normally the ACU deploys just one of its regional security officer in an international series.
And under its operational protocol, every regional security officer of the ACU is assigned to cover series of two teams.
For example Nur covers Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Virk does India and Sri Lanka and Rhodes is posted for all the series played by Australia or New Zealand.
This would be the first time that in a bilateral cricket series that the ACU has assigned such a high number of its security officers to carry out its operational protocols meant to discourage corruption in the game and of matches being fixed.
The Indian tour to Pakistan is being viewed with keen interest by the ACU given that its main focus of investigations at the moment centres around the 1999 World Cup match between Pakistan and India and they are also inquiring into the activities of an Indian bookie Ratan Mehta.
In this background the posting of three ACU officers for the Pakistan and India series seems very logical.
If the tour is cleared at all, India is scheduled to tour Pakistan to play three Tests and five One-day Internationals from March 5, their first full tour in 14 years.