http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ehsan-Mani-c55791 says foreign teams still hesitant to visit Pakistan – Cricket News Update
Ehsan Mani, the former International Cricket Council’s president, on Saturday said that foreign teams are still hesitant to visit Pakistan due to the uncertain security situation.
“One of the Australian diplomats in Islamabad told me in a recent meeting that they are not willing to advise their team to travel to Pakistan because there is no improvement in the security situation,” Mani told Dawn.
Mani’s comments came after Pakistan Cricket Board’s newly appointed Chairman, Zaka Ashraf, met International Cricket Council’s officials in Dubai, to get approval from the world’s governing body to bring International cricket back
to Pakistan.
International cricket in Pakistan suffered since the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team’s bus in March 2009, in Lahore, which saw some of the players seriously injured. Since then, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 is serving as a second
home for Pakistan to play its home series. Deprived of international cricket, PCB has been facing massive financial losses as well.
The security conditions in Pakistan have been alarming, and even now, no proper steps are adopted to root out terrorism. However, Mani said that if Pakistan is able to maintain proper security for two consecutive years, it will
definitely open the way for International teams.
The PCB has been trying hard to recover from the blow, they have raised the issue in ICC’s executive board’s meetings as well. Earlier this year, Afghanistan’s non-official team had visited the country and played against the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755
A team.
Other than this, Pakistan is also trying to revive the bilateral cricketing ties with India, as previously, the county’s foreign Minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, visited the neighboring country and had a discussion on the restoration
of cricketing ties between the arch-rivals. Her visit was considered as a good sign, as the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s chief appreciated Hina’s view point.
Recently, PCB’s Chief, Zaka Ashraf, sent a letter to BCCI for the revival of bilateral series between both the countries. The Indian board’s Chief, in-turn has invited http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashraf-c46397 to have a discussion on the issue. As per ICC's Future
Tour Programme, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 is supposed to visit Pakistan in March-April 2012.
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