The ICC is currently planning to send a World XI to Pakistan in September for a four-match Twenty20 series to be held in Lahore after the successful Pakistan Super League final in the city on Sunday.
The series will be called The Independence Cup to mark the 70th anniversary of partition – and is another step towards bringing international cricket back to the grounds of Pakistan.
Details of which players will feature in the World XI are yet to be announced.
Giles Clarke, the president of the England and Wales Cricket Board, leads the ICC’s Pakistan Task Force that has been looking at ways to resume international cricket in Pakistan.
“The desire is to give the cricket-starved Pakistani supporters the chance to see some of the world’s finest players in live action,” Clarke said. “The world of cricket needs to help Pakistan, who cannot continue to play their home fixtures overseas. The youth need inspiring, and the national teams need far more cricket played in familiar terrain. Furthermore, the terrorists cannot win and cricket must not give up on Pakistan.”
The World XI series team is scheduled to fly to Lahore for four matches on the 22nd, 23rd, 28th and 29th.
The almost 8-year hiatus of international cricket in Pakistan resulted from an attack on a Sri Lankan bus in 2009 due to which Pakistan have played most of their home internationals at neutral venues. But the PSL final in Lahore, amid stringent security measures that saw the city in lockdown and bulletproof team buses escorted by elite troops, showed that cricket can resume in Pakistan.
