Indian team presser after arrival, with PM before departure

(10 Mar 2004)
Lahore, March 10, 2004
1. Wide exterior of Lahore's Allama Iqbal International Airport with armed security forces on patrol
2. Team officials and players emerging into arrivals hall surrounded by photographers and guards
3. Various players getting on bus, with batsman Sachin Tendulkar turning to camera before he climbs aboard
4. Wide shot of bus, surrounded by photographers and security officers, pulling away from terminal followed by military jeeps - AUDIO of bus horn
Lahore, March 10, 2004
5. Wide of Indian team captain Sourav Ganguly and team manager Ratnakar Shetty arriving at podium for presser
6. Ganguly waving to audience
7. Ganguly and Shetty at podium
8. SOUNDBITTE: (English) Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricket team captain:
"I'm amazed to see a lot of things which have been happening but it's good to be here in Pakistan and I hope we'll play some good cricket."
9. Photographers
10. SOUNDBITTE: (English) Sourav Ganguly, Indian cricket team captain:
"I think what's important for whichever team, either of us, to win the series. I don't need to say what happens when India and Pakistan play, so I think it's equally important for both of us to win. I really don't agree with this 'good will' issue, it's a cricket match and I think both teams will be competing to win."
11. Audience
12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ratnakar Shetty, Indian team manager:
"Cricket is a game which will definitely create a better atmosphere for relations between the two governments and this is
is happening because the two governments wanted it to happen, they created the tour and I'm sure that at the end of the tour, all of us will be happy that the series went off well."
13. Briefing
New Delhi, March 10 , 2004
14. Indian Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee shaking hands with cricket captain Sourav Ganguly as the team gets ready to depart
15. Vajpayee meeting other players
16. Batsman Sachin Tendulkar shaking hands with Vajpayee
17. Cameramen
18. Vajpayee presenting personally signed bat to the team
19. Vajpayee
20. Bat with Vajpayee's best wishes , saying "Don't win just the game, win hearts"
STORYLINE:
India's cricketers arrived Wednesday for their first full tour of Pakistan in 14 years, a sporting contest eagerly awaited across the cricket-obsessed subcontinent amid hopes it will spur a fragile peace process between South Asia's nuclear-armed rivals.
A plane carrying the 15-member Indian squad touched down in the eastern city of Lahore.
The players emerged from the terminal wearing tinsel garlands around their necks and boarded a bus with tinted windows which sped off, escorted by machine-gun toting commandos in jeeps.
Before the trip to Lahore, the Indian team expressed concerns about security but Pakistani cricket authorities said they expected no problems during the 40 day tour.
More than 3,000 uniformed and plainclothes officers are being deployed in the city for the visit, although authorities say they have no specific reports of a security threat.
During the team's first briefing, Indian team manager Ratnakar Shetty said that the cricket "will definitely create a better atmosphere for relations between the two governments."
Captain Sourav Ganguly declined to answer any questions on politics and made clear his players were focusing on winning.
Earlier in New Delhi, Indian Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee led his nation in bidding farewell to the cricket team.
He offered a bat to the players with a inscription reading "Don't win just the game, win hearts".
India has never won a test in Pakistan.

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