KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board is mulling to play its home series against Bangladesh in Sri Lanka, instead of the United Arab Emirates, this year.
Chairman PCB Shahryar Khan confirmed that Sri Lanka is being considered as an option to host Pakistan’s home series against Bangladesh after a tri-party meeting in Sri Lanka, which also involved representatives from BCB and SLC.
“We could play either in Bangladesh or in a third country, which is acceptable to both sides, or we could even do it in Sri Lanka,†said Shahryar Khan while confirming that Bangladesh is not ready to send their national team to Pakistan due to security fears.
United Arab Emirates has become Pakistan’s regular home venue after PCB was forced to play all the home series at the neutral venue following an attack on Sri Lankan team in 2009.
One reason, sources believe, to play home series against Bangladesh in Sri Lanka (or outside UAE) is the financial value of the series as it is not likely to generate enough revenue for PCB to help them cover costs of playing in UAE.
There is no window in current Future Tour Program of ICC for Pakistan’s home series against Bangladesh. Although, Pakistan is scheduled to tour Bangladesh this year in July under the FTP agreement.
Shahryar Khan has confirmed that Pakistan’s team will tour Bangladesh in July but the PCB would discuss the financial side of things since it would be country’s third consecutive tour of Bangladesh since 2011.
The PCB had, earlier, told the BCB to honour its previous FTP commitments of playing Pakistan’s home series with them if they want Pakistan to tour Bangladesh this year.
Both the boards are in still talks to create a window for Pakistan’s home series against Bangladesh, but a possible window can be in November/December if India refuses to honour its commitment of playing with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Cricket Board has agreed to send its high-performance team to tour Pakistan this year in summers.
“Bangladesh is agreeable to send its high-performance team to Pakistan, which is a big step, said chairman PCB Shahryar Khan.
“They will play in Pakistan against our high-performance team. I think this time around the ICC wants us to play in July, but we will finalise the actual dates later,†he added.
Shaharyar Khan was in Colombo for an informal meeting among the heads of Sri Lanka Cricket, Thilanga Sumathipala, BCB head Nazmul Hassan and the PCB to discuss Asian Cricket Council affairs.
