Pakistan hopes to host Sri Lanka next year

KARACHI: Managing to impress the visiting Zimbabwe cricket team with its security arrangements, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is now targeting a tour by the Sri Lankan outfit sometime in April next year.

A well-informed source in the PCB told PTI that the PCB had managed to convince the head of the Sri Lankan cricket interim committee, Siddhart Wettimuny to visit Lahore for the last one-day international against Zimbabwe this Sunday.

“The PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan plans to hold talks with Wettimuny on the possibility of Sri Lankan sending its team for a series in April next year,” the source said.

“Pakistan has already got positives vibes from Sri Lanka and they are hopeful they will host another international side next year,” the source added.

Test teams stopped touring Pakistan in March, 2009 when militants attacked the Lankan team in Lahore, in which six Pakistani policemen and a van driver were killed and some visiting players wounded.

Since that horrific incident, Test teams had stopped touring Pakistan until Cricket Zimbabwe agreed earlier this month to send its team for a limited-overs series in Lahore.

According to the man in charge of supervising the security details for the visiting teams, the security system installed to safeguard Zimbabwe surpasses the protocol given to even the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan.

According to the PCB’s Senior General Manager Vigilance Muhammad Azam Khan, the board and Punjab government have ensured watertight security for Zimbabwe and it has already had a positive impact internationally.

Azam said the best security mechanism was being provided to the touring side with nothing left to chance.

“All Law Enforcement Agencies (LEAs) are involved in making sure nothing goes wrong anywhere whether it is the stadium, hotel or anywhere else,” said Azam. “Lahore is on high alert because even a small incident can take us back to square one,” he added.

Azam said that for the series to be made possible there was great coordination between all security agencies.

The threats were assessed and in this entire process, all prime intelligence agencies in the country were taken on board to get their approval before giving the final go ahead for the series.

Two SLC officials travel to Pakistan to witness Sunday’s final ODI

Mumbai: Two officials of the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Board will travel to Pakistan and watch their final ODI against Zimbabwe on Sunday. 

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited officials from the ICC and several cricket boards including Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh to oversee the security arrangements they have made for the visiting Zimbabwe team. No BCCI official has planned to visit Pakistan at this stage, however, Sidath Wettimuny, the Chairman of the SLC, has accepted the invitation. 

 “Yes, I have accepted the invitation and, possibly with one more member, will leave on Friday night,” Wettimuny, speaking exclusively over telephone from Colombo, confirmed.

Wettimuny is likely to assess the situation in Pakistan before deciding whether to send the Sri Lankan team. 

The PCB has announced that their forthcoming bilateral series against India will be played in the UAE.