Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) senior officials will travel to Singapore to take part in an Asian Cricket Council meeting, hoping to get some confirmation from the BCCI on resumption of bilateral series between the two countries. Chairman of the PCB, Zaka Ashraf, left for Singapore on Saturday morning and COO Subhan Ahmad will join him for the ACC meeting on Monday.
“It is an important meeting for us because we are going there with a will to tackle several issues, among them talks with Bangladesh and Indian cricket officials,” Subhan said. Pakistan will get a clear picture of whether it will be invited to tour India early next year for a series or whether the resumption of bilateral ties between the two countries will have to be delayed.
“The ACC meeting is due to finalise the itinerary for the Asia Cup which is scheduled in Bangladesh sometime in March. But if there is an indication that Pakistan and India will be playing the FTP series that is also scheduled sometime in March-April, then the regional tournament will be put on hold,” he explained. Subhan said in this sense the ACC meeting was important. “We are hoping to get some firm indication from the Indian board officials on their perspective about the Indo-Pak series next year,” he said. Ashraf will also meet the Bangladesh Cricket Board officials on the sidelines of the ACC moot. Subhan confirmed that Ashraf will meet his Bangladeshi counterpart, Mostafa Kamal, and will give him a comprehensive security plan in an effort to convince him to send the team to Pakistan. No Test-playing nation has toured Pakistan since March 2009 when terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, leaving six Pakistani policemen and a van driver dead in the attack. “We have prepared a foolproof security plan for visiting teams in Pakistan and we will explain this to the Bangladesh board officials as we are keen that they undertake the FTP tour to Pakistan next year,” the PCB official explained.
