West Indies, Sri Lanka Confirm Tour to Pakistan for T20Is

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Monday confirmed that the country will host two international teams as it tries to bring back international cricket to the country. Sri Lanka and West Indies have confirmed that they will travel to Pakistan to play T20 international in September and November respectively. The PCB confirmed this after announcing that a World XI side will be in Lahore to play three T20Is in October.

“Cricket West Indies and Pakistan Cricket Board are advancing discussions that will see the West Indies team play the T20 matches with Pakistan in Lahore in late November,” said a statement released by the PCB.

“My mission statement is to bring back international cricket to Pakistan and hopefully we will be able to announce the full World XI side in next two to three days,” PCB chairman Najam Sethi told a news conference.

Pakistan haven’t had a international season in their country since the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Lahore. Though Zimbabwe did visit Pakistan two years ago, no Test playing nation has visited them.

But, the two tours will only go ahead after assessing the situation during the World XI tour which was first talked after the second edition of Pakistan Super League ended in March.

“It was a very difficult task convincing the Sri Lankan board to send their team to Lahore once again but they have shown great courage in accepting our request and hopefully if security arrangements are confirmed they will come and play T20 matches in October.”

“We will try to organise some matches of the Pakistan Super League in Karachi early next year so that we can start convincing teams to also play at other venues apart from Lahore,” he added.

Courtesy : indianexpress