The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has again kicked off efforts to bring back international cricket to the country as the board’s officials offered the Sri Lankan Cricket Board to travel to Pakstan for a two-match Test series, a report in Cricbuzz suggests. The offer was made at the meeting of Asian Cricket Council, where it was also announced that Pakistan will host Asia Cup 2020 – although the chances of it are unlikely.
Both Sri Lanka and Pakistan are set to take on each other in a two-match Test series that will be part of ICC Test championship, that begins right from Ashes 2020.
Sri Lanka is the third team that PCB has offered to tour to the country. Earlier, the board had made offers to New Zealand and Australia but both the boards refused to make a trip to the country. Last year, both Australia and New Zealand faced Pakistan in the UAE.
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Sri Lankan cricket board has time to think over it but for now, a Test series in Pakistan is unlikely to happen. Since 2009, few international teams have had travelled to Pakistan. First, Kenya team made a trip to Pakistan to face their ‘A’ side before Zimbabwe played in an international series there.
In 2017, a World XI team led by Faf du Plessis travelled to the country. Sri Lanka also played one of the three T20Is there. In 2018, a second string West Indies team also travelled there.
Recently, West Windies’ women team also played in Pakistan. Few of the PSL matches are now also conducted in Pakistan and PCB hopes to host a Test match soon in the country.
The Sri Lanka board has time to make a decision and it remains to be seen if the board agrees to the offer. As has been the case with the visiting teams, few of Sri Lankan players might also back out.
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As per the schedule, Sri Lankan team is scheduled to take on Pakistan in two-match away Test matches in the month of October. Should the board not agree to Pakistan’s offer, the matches will be played in UAE.
Apart from hosting Sri Lanka, Pakistan will also host Bangladesh and South Africa in Test championship. They play Australia, England and New Zealand in away series, as per the schedule.