The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to play a series of three one-day internationals and an equal number of twenty20 matches against Australia in August-September, but the venues for the matches will be decided in the next few days.
According to a senior official of the PCB: “Since now we have [are playing] three Twenty20 matches, we don’t require any special permission from the International Cricket Council [ICC].”
Subhan Ahmed, PCB’s chief operating officer, said, a decision on whether the matches will take place in Malaysia or the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will be taken in the next two to three days. Continue reading below
There were reports that Pakistan and Australia could approach the ICC to allow them to play a series of five Twenty20 Internationals.
Subhan explained since it had been decided to have the series immediately after the Ramazan ends, both the teams have space to play six matches. Initially, Pakistan had planned five ODIs and three Twenty20 Internationals.
Pakistan have been forced to host the series against Australia at a neutral venue after the Aussies refused to tour Pakistan due to security concerns. Australia have not played in Pakistan since 1998 due to security concerns.
Pakistan had earlier sent a request to the ICC to allow them to host a series of seven Twenty20 Internationals against Australia. But, cricket’s governing body rejected the move, asking the PCB to take their proposal to the ICC chief executives meeting to take place in Kuala Lumpur later this month. As per ICC regulations, a maximum of three Twenty20 Internationals are allowed in a bilateral series.
The PCB had sent its senior official and former Test captain and coach Intikhab Alam to Kaula Lumpur and UAE to inspect and assess the grounds and weather conditions in both the possible neutral venues. Subhan said a problem with having matches in Malaysia was that there could be monsoon there in August and September, but added that the country was cost effective for the board to organise the series.
