Zaka Ashraf welcomes revival of Indo-Pak cricketing ties – Cricket News Update
The chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, Zaka Ashraf has hailed the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to host Pakistan cricket team in a limited-overs series between December 25 and January 6.
"We are happy to be sending our team to http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ashraf-c46397 while speaking to media reporters at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, after the Indian cricket board announced the itinerary on Thursday. "The way I see it during the current tenure we have reached a unprecedented level of understanding with the Indian board," he added further.
The BCCI on Thursday revealed the schedule for the short limited-overs series, comprising three One Day Internationals and two T20 Internationals, after getting clearance from the Indian home ministry.
The forthcoming Indo-Pak series will be the first bilateral contact between the two teams since late 2007, when Pakistan team toured India. The Men in Blue were scheduled to visit Pakistan in late 2008, but the BCCI called off the tour in the wake of deadly http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mumbai-c820 attacks, in November that year, as the Indian government suspected involvement from across the border in the lethal attacks.
The PCB chief said that since assuming office in October last year, he had been focusing on resumption of bilateral ties with the eastern neighbours, and the year-long efforts finally paid dividends. He hoped the resumption of cricketing ties will also help improve relations between the two countries.
"It is a great development and we are confident the revival of bilateral ties will also help improve relations between the two countries and increase people to people contact," said Ashraf, who replaced http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 Cricket Board’s chairman in October 2011.
India last toured Pakistan in 2006, and it was the latter’s turn to host the bilateral series between the two. But Ashraf is not much bothered by which country hosts the series.
"We don't see the series being played in India or Pakistan we just see it as a series to revive friendship," the PCB chief concluded.
The much-awaited India-Pakistan series kick starts on December 25, with a T20 International in Bangalore.
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