Daily Times

After much hesitation and excuses, the Bangladesh Cricket Board has finally agreed to visit Pakistan for three T20 Internationals, two Tests and one One-day International match. The credit for the confirmation must go to International Cricket Council (ICC) Chairman Shashank Manohar, a fact acknowledged by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The smooth and peaceful conduct of the Sri Lankan team tour to Pakistan should have been enough to convince team Bangladesh to tour Pakistan, but it seems regional politics was also behind the delayed confirmation of the visit. The PCB will host three T20Is in Lahore (January 24 to 27), after which the Bangladesh team will return to Pakistan for the first ICC World Test Championship fixture, starting February 7, in Rawalpindi. The team will again return to play an ODI in Karachi on April 3 and the second ICC World Test Championship fixture, starting April 5, in Rawalpindi. The split series will, however, provide fans in three cities with international cricket. The itinerary is a bit complex and quite difficult for Bangladesh, but thankfully it has been settled amicably between the two countries, mainly with the help of the ICC.

The successful tour of the team Bangladesh should lead to regular international cricket tours to Pakistan. The country, which remained under the shadow of terrorism for almost two decades, was deprived of far too many joys for far too long, international cricket among them. Thankfully, with the effort of armed forces and the public, the country has returned to the path of normalcy. The country must be rewarded with the revival of international Test cricket with short matches as a treat to the millions of fans as well as Pakistani cricket players. Years of cricket on neutral venues brought little pleasure and experience for cricket fans and team players. Many outstanding players retired from international cricket without playing a single international match in front of a home crowd. ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney is visiting Pakistan next week to start preliminary discussions with the PCB about hosting ICC events. Now that the tour of Bangladesh has been finalized, the task on hand for PCB should be selecting quality players. Pakistan apparently has the upper hand in the Test series but the Bangladeshi team has several quality players who can inflict an upset. *