The World XI tour of Pakistan has rejuvenated cricket in the country. Players from across the cricketing globe got together in an effort to revive the game. The way the series has panned out so far has given the assurance for more international cricket in the near future. The success of the Independence Cup has brought a good news for the nation as Windies will now travel to Pakistan to play a T2oI series.
Najam Sethi, the Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), announced on a television program that the Caribbean team will play 3 T20Is and the itinerary would be published soon. The dark clouds of the unfortunate attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in the year 2009 outside the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore had halted the game in the country but now, it seems there is going to be plenty of action soon.
Sri Lanka will also tour Pakistan
Speaking about the Windies tour, Sethi said, “The agreement with the West Indies Cricket Board has been finalised and done and they have confirmed they will come to Lahore in November to play three T20 Internationals.” He further affirmed that Sri Lanka will play a solitary T20I on October 29 in Lahore. “I am still trying to convince Sri Lanka to play at least two matches in the coming series in Lahore,” he said.
Sethi added that there won’t be any compromises with the security of the players and that’s why the matches are being organized currently in Lahore only. With more assurance of security, the matches will be spread to other Test venues in the country as well.
“Right now, we are compelled to play only in Lahore but obviously with time we will schedule matches at other Test venues like Karachi, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Multan. Right now, we can’t take any risks. We know the security plans being enforced for the World XI matches are causing some inconvenience to the people. As we host more foreign teams we will have relaxations but without compromising on the security for visiting teams or our players.”
