The Pakistan Cricket Board and the Board of Control for Cricket in India have made some positive progress in their efforts to organise the first bilateral series in nearly five years and it is now almost certain that the series will take place next year. The eagerly-awaited series between Pakistan and India most likely would be played in March-April next year. Reports from the PCB sources say that most of the problems for holding the series have been resolved and only the go ahead is being awaited from the Indian government. An official said: “The Indian board is awaiting its government’s final clearance and only after that the schedule will be finalsied and confirmed.
Pakistan last played India in 2007 and their bilateral series was hampered by the terrorist attack of Mumbai. Although the teams have clashed in a few ICC events but since then they have not played a complete series. PCB chairman Ijaz Butt had recently visited India and also sought the help of Sharad Pawar for the possibility of a bilateral series and claimed that the talks held were quite positive.
Butt said: “I held discussions with Indian officials. Both countries have shown their eagerness for the revival of the series. We are working on finalising terms and conditions and the fans will hear the good news soon.”
However, the PCB chief has lately demanded the Indian team to play a return series, which they were supposed to play after Pakistan’s visit to India in 2007. He made it clear that the Pakistan will only finalise the Indian tour once the rivals face each other in a series hosted by Pakistan. Pakistan has been deprived of home series since the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team and the terrorism in the country also cost the PCB the hosting right of the Champions Trophy and the chance to host the 2011 World Cup matches.
Although efforts were made to bring international teams back to Pakistan when the ICC formed a committee to arrange a World XI series but the spot-fixing fiasco stalled that effort too. Only Zimbabwe were willing to travel to Pakistan but at that point in time Pakistan were playing a series in New Zealand, just before the World Cup.
However, the impasse between Pakistan and India came to end when the PCB came up with a proposal of neutral venues for cricketing. An Indo-Pakistan cricket league could feed the revenue-starved PCB which has been suffering heavily for last few months. Including India, no other cricket playing nations have visited Pakistan in the last few years. It is expected that Sharjah or Abu Dhabi will be the neutral venue if both the countries come-up together for a series. But the PCB wanted the home venues to be the first priority and if there was no headway then they would look beyond for a neutral venue. The arch rivals are expected to play three Tests, five ODIs and one Twenty20 match. The PCB official said that options of organising the series are being worked out with the BCCI and surely there will be something positive coming out in the days to come.
