Pakistan Drops Abbottabad as a venue for the Third One-Day against Afghanistan
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to drop Abbottabad from the venue of the third match against Afghanistan’s national team. The match was scheduled to be played on May 29, 2011.
A statement released by the PCB on the change made in the venue said, “The itinerary of Afghanistan national team tour to Pakistan has been rescheduled. The new itinerary is (the) first match at Islamabad on May 25, second match at Rawalpindi on May 27 and
third match on May 29 at Faisalabad."
PCB’s latest statement has come just after a day when the cricket board refused to change the venue and insisted that the series will be played as planned.
The call for changing the venue by critics came after the quiet town of Abbottabad gained international attention because of a military operation by the United States of America on May 2, 2011 in which the world’s most wanted fugitive Osama bin Laden, was
killed in a lavish compound.
It has been learned by credible sources that the PCB finally decided to ditch Abbottabad after PCB http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mal-Loye-c1879 Ijaz Butt was advised by the interior minister of Pakistan, Rehman Malik to move the match to another location due to possible security concerns.
Earlier in the day, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ijaz-Butt-c64128, sought security assurances for the series from the interior ministry by meeting Rehman Malik, who assured the PCB chairman of full security arrangements during the three-match series, which will be the first international cricket
event since 2009.
International teams have avoided touring Pakistan after a failed terrorist plot in Lahore on the visiting Sri Lankan squad in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 has failed to convince the
International Cricket Council (http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625) to help in resuming international events in the country.
However, it is expected that the series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Peter-Willey-c81951 prove to the world that Pakistan is now a safe place for international teams to visit.
Butt also hopes to convince the Indian team to tour Pakistan this year which will resume bilateral cricketing ties between the arch rivals that were suspended in 2008, after the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 attacks.
Nonetheless, even if http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 finally tours Pakistan, there is still less hope for other teams to follow suit causing Pakistan to seek a neutral ground to play their home tournaments.
As of now, the PCB has used http://www.senore.com/Cricket/United-Arab-Emirates-c3033 as their base for home series.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sri-Lanka-c758 has also offered to host Pakistan’s home events, giving Pakistan plenty of options to chose from, however, the country still needs international cricketing events to be played on their own soil for which the PCB is believed to be striving hard.
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