Pakistan tour clearance not likely to pose a problem: BCCI – Cricket News Update
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is certain they will face no hurdles in obtaining clearance from the government as they plan to host Pakistan for short series in December 2012/January 2013.
“We will of course need to take a formal clearance from the government,” Rajiv Shukla, senior BCCI official, told
AFP. “But I have spoken to both the home ministry and the external affairs ministry and we have no doubt the tour will take place.”
The series, which consists of 3 ODIs (to be played in Chennai, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Delhi-c780 and Kolkata) and 2 T20Is (in Ahmedabad and Bangalore) is due to take place in between the Test and ODI legs of England’s Indian tour, when the Poms take time off and fly back home for a
short Christmas and New Year’s break.
The event marks the first bilateral series the two teams will be playing after a period of 5 years, with the last series having been played in 2007.
The Men In Blue were due to tour Pakistan following the 2007 series, but the sporting ties between both nations came to an abrupt halt in 2008 after the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 terrorist attacks, which led to a complete freeze in diplomatic relations. As a resulted, the
tour was cancelled following a directive from the Indian government.
Despite various offers from the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/ICC-World-Cup-2011-c100625 World Cup 2011 (they played a much-hyped
semi-final at Mohali, which India went on to win), and the recent Asia Cup held in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750 again emerged triumphant from their clash with Pakistan).
However, several meetings between high-level officials from both boards this year revealed that negotiations were underway, and the result was the recent announcement of a bilateral series.
Although it was Pakistan’s turn to host the Men In Blue, they have been unable to host series on home soil since the militant terrorist attack on the touring Sri Lankan team in 2009. India, however, refused to play at a neutral venue, owing to which they
will be hosting the Pakistan team.
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