Pakistan hopeful of reviving bilateral cricket with India

NEW DELHI: Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan said he was hoping for a resumption of bilateral cricket ties with India in the United Arab Emirates later this year.
“The security situation is improving very fast (in Pakistan), but right now, India won’t be able to come for a full tour,” Khan told the Headlines Today news channel after a meeting with Board of Control for Cricket in India President Jagmohan Dalmiya in Kolkata.
“There is much hope and expectation that the series will take place in December in the UAE. We want to make sure this happens now.”
Khan said fans were keen for a revival of cricket between the two countries.
“If the approval of the government is required, fine. But we should make a very clear decision because our public and the entire world wants to see Pakistan and India play each other,” Khan said.
Pakistan has not hosted international cricket since a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team at Lahore in 2009.
India suspended bilateral ties after Pakistani militants killed 166 people in Mumbai in 2008. Pakistan toured India for a short limited overs series in 2012-13, but there has been no series between the two neighbors since.
Khan said a memorandum of understanding had been signed between the two boards to play five series in eight years and that the proposed series in the UAE would feature three tests, five one-day internationals and two Twenty20 games.
The Indian cricket board said in a statement that it was “desirable to recommence such cricket contact” but added that the situation would be reviewed later.