The Pakistan Cricket Board will reconsider its support to the Bangladesh Cricket Board in the International Cricket Council if their team did not visit Pakistan as promised by its President Mustafa Kamal. Talking to journalists here at the end of the AGM, PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf said that he was hopeful of the Bangladesh tour to Pakistan but in case it did send out a warning in case the tour did not take place. “The board will review it’s relation with Bangladesh is they refuse to tour Pakistan” Ashraf said.
Earlier an official from the Bangladesh Cricket Board had tweeted that the team will not be visiting Pakistan for any upcoming series. ”We will have to reconsider our cricketing relations if they don’t come” to play either two one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match or three ODIs later this month or in early May. The Bangladesh Cricket Board is yet to receive clearance from its government after submitting a security report on Pakistan. Afghanistan played three ODIs in Pakistan year, becoming the first country to tour since gunmen killed several police officers and a bus driver in their attack on a Sri Lanka team bus during a test in Lahore three years ago. Ashraf also spoke of cricketing ties with India and that the recent trip of President Zardari would have a positive impact on reviving them. The PCB Chairman said the Pakistan Premier League would be organised soon. Pakistan’s cricket chief said on Tuesday he was “positive” about reviving stalled cricket ties with India, following President Asif Ali Zardari’s weekend trip to New Delhi.
The arch-rivals met in the Asia Cup one-day tournament last month and the World Cup semi-final in India last year, but regular tours have been frozen since the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
India postponed a tour to Pakistan scheduled for January 2009 in the wake of the Mumbai carnage, which left 166 people dead, before suspending all sporting links. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had lunch with Zardari on Sunday and said he would consider reviving what is one of the most hotly-contested rivalries in cricket. “We are quite positive about the revival of cricketing ties with India after our president took the initiative,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf told reporters after a PCB meeting. “It was a good move to invite the Indian premier to Pakistan and I am sure that it will help in moving forward.” Pakistan and India are slated to play in 2012 in the International Cricket Council’s Future Tours Programme, but India’s already hectic schedule makes this difficult even if there is a thaw in relations.
PCB to reconsider cricket relations with Bangladesh
