Indo-Pak series will help improve bilateral ties between the neighbours, reckons PCB chief – Cricket News Update
Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairman Zaka http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 and Pakistan, and is confident the forthcoming limited-overs series would bode well for the relationship between the two countries
"I don't see this series as just a cricket series I see this series as something bigger. I would like it to eventually help improve relations between the two countries," Ashraf said during a media encounter on Friday.
"I want to see not only regular bilateral cricket relations with India but also better relations on other levels as well," he added further.
The Pakistan cricket team is scheduled to tour India late this month to play two T20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals against the hosts, between December 25 and January 6. This will be the first bilateral series between the archrivals in five years.
The last time India and Pakistan had played each other in a limited-overs series was in 2007, when the latter toured the former.
As per the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625’s Future Tour Programme, this was Pakistan’s turn to host their eastern neighbours in a bilateral series, but the BCCI refused to send its players citing security concerns.
Nevertheless, in a bid to break the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Gareth-Berg-c1457, the PCB agreed to send its players to India, and now after getting the approval from the governments of both the countries, the two Asian giants are all set to lock their horns in a T20 and ODI series.
It may be noted here that Pakistan has not hosted an international match since the 2009 terrorist attack on the on-tour Sri Lankan team in Lahore. However, Ashraf was confident that PCB’s efforts to convince the other boards to send their teams to the country would pay off soon.
"It is difficult to give a time-frame for international teams to return to Pakistan but ... we are presently in talks with two or three boards trying to convince them it is safe for them to send their teams to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 for a proper international series," he stated, adding that even the International Cricket Council (ICC) was keen to see international cricket return to Pakistan.
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