Pakistan, India short series likely in December

The Pakistan and Indian cricket officials has found an opening in the coming December for any possible cricket ties resumption.
PCB Chairman Zaka Ashraf visited India on the invitation of the BCCI to watch the final of the IPL-5 and reports coming from across the border suggested that the officials of the Indian Board and the PCB, who conducted a series of meetings in Chennai recently, have found a vacant slot for an otherwise busy Indian team between December 23 and January 10.
The teams may play three limited-overs matches, or a couple of ODIs and a Twenty20 match.
The tight schedule for cricket in India prevented the two countries from coming face to face even after the tensions eased between the two nations. Both India and Pakistan severed cricketing ties after the 26/11 Mumbai terrorists’ attack, which killed over 165 people.
After, consultations the officials zeroed in on a vacant spot at the end of the year. In December, England cricket team will visit India for a bilateral series. They go back to England for Christmas- New Year break on 21 January and will return on January 3.
But they are not slated to play an international till January 11 when the first ODI is scheduled. In between, they have a couple of warm-up matches. The Pakistan team will be free during December. They have an away series against Zimbabwe in January but the dates for that series, it seems, can be adjusted.
The BCCI and PCB officials, who held talks on the sidelines of the IPL final in Chennai over the weekend, are believed to have realised the need to restore bilateral ties between the neighbours. Should the short tour materialise, the counties will have played a bilateral match for the first time in close to five years.
“There’s a distinct possibility that we could have a few matches in December-January,” said a top BCCI official in the know of things. Similar was the response of Subhan Ahmed, PCB CEO, who was also in Chennai. “The Indian team is very busy, but we’re trying to slot in a few matches late this year,” the PCB official told reporters on arrival in Pakistan.
The development comes close on the heels of the BCCI’s decision to invite a Pakistan domestic team to participate in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament this October. The restoration of bilateral ties is, of course, subject to clearance by the government, especially India’s. The Pakistan government, in any case, has been demanding restoration of India-Pakistan ties. Pakistan last toured India in December 2007; and India were to reciprocate with a return tour in January 2009. But the cricketing ties took a hit after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. In between, there have been sporadic matches between the countries but all of them have been either ICC or ACC events.