The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is trying to persuade Cricket Australia to play two One-Day Internationals in Pakistan next year before the World Cup in England.
A five-match ODI series between the two teams is scheduled to be held in Pakistan’s adopted home of UAE sometime in late March and early April but the PCB is trying to persuade the Australians to play two games in Pakistan, according to chairman Ehsan Mani.
The series could be rescheduled as the Australians are keen to play it as close to the World Cup as possible, according to PTI. The World Cup is slated to start from late May in England.
“Since we will be hosting the Australians, we have told them try to play two matches in Pakistan,” PTI quoted an unnamed PCB official as saying. “The process is on but nothing is final as yet.”
Australia have not played in Pakistan since 1998. International cricket was suspended in 2009 following a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore. In 2015, Zimbabwe were the first team that agreed to play in Pakistan – five limited-over internationals.
In 2016, Pakistan hosted a T20 series against a World XI and a T20 against Sri Lanka. The West Indies played a three-match T20I series in Pakistan earlier this year.
Ehsan Mani said that to persuade top teams to play in Pakistan, it was a matter of changing perceptions about the security situation in the country.
“Once anyone comes to Pakistan and views the situation by himself, it will not be hard to convince him that international cricket can return to Pakistan properly,” Mani was quoted as saying by PTI. “But it is not easy trying to change the perception of people who have not been to Pakistan in recent times.”
Mani admitted that Pakistan needed top teams to start visiting again to see international cricket return to the country permanently. He also noted that the Asian Cricket Council’s annual general body meeting held in Lahore last week was a good step forward for Pakistan cricket as ICC’s CEO Dave Richardson was also present. Except for India, all the ACC member nations sent their representatives for the meeting.
With inputs from PTI