PCB hoping to revive bilateral cricket ties with India soon
Desperate to revive bilateral cricket ties with India, Pakistan is hoping to make a breakthrough next month when the officials of the two boards come across each other during ICC meetings.
"So far we have not discussed anything concrete with the Indians so far but we are looking at a June meeting to get the ball rolling," a senior PCB official told PTI.
Since Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited his Pakistan counterpart Yousaf Raza Gillani to Mohali to watch the World Cup semi-final between the two countries, the PCB has been pushing for a resumption of bilateral cricket ties with India.
"Yes, we are keen on resuming bilateral ties because the signals during the meeting the Indian Prime Minister had in Mohali were very positive," PCB chief operating officer, Subhan Ahmad said.
He said Pakistan was hoping that in June, talks could be initiated on resumption of bilateral ties with India when representatives of both the boards are in Hong Kong for the ICC meetings.
Pakistan has constantly said that if India resumes bilateral ties, it would be a big financial boost for the PCB.
India has not played Pakistan in a bilateral series since late 2007 and also cancelled a scheduled Test tour to Pakistan in early 2009 because of the Mumbai terror attacks.
Pakistan has said it is willing to even split the bilateral series with India with one-day games sometime in 2011.
Pakistan is also scheduled to tour India in March 2012 as part of the future tours program and Ahmad said it was on schedule.
Ahmad also confirmed that the PCB was still considering an offer from Sri Lanka to host Pakistan's 'home' series against England early in 2012.
"Yes, we have got an offer and we are looking at it. We are considering Sri Lanka, Dubai and Abu Dhabi as the possible neutral venues for the England series. But obviously we will select venues based on which is more cost effective for us," he added.
Pakistan has gone without international cricket at home since March 2009 when militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver in the security convoy and wounding five visiting players in the team bus.
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