PCB to invite Sri Lanka, Bangla in 2016

 The PCB will invite Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to tour Pakistan next year in its continuing bid to revive international cricket in the country.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shaharyar Khan told reporters here that after the successful tour by the Zimbabwe team, the board had stepped up its efforts to get more international teams to visit the country.

Zimbabwe was the first test team to visit late May since 2009 when militants had attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen and a van driver.

“The way the people responded to the tour by Zimbabwe I think they gave out a clear message just how passionate we are about cricket and how much we want international cricket to return to Pakistan,” Khan said.

“We are pretty confident we will be able to sign agreements with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for them to send their teams to Pakistan next year,” the PCB chief added.

Khan said the security arrangements made for Zimbabwe were exemplary and confirmed Pakistan’s ability to host any international team while providing them a safe and secure environment to play cricket.

“The series was a success because the coordination between the PCB, government and security agencies was very good and everyone had learnt from the mistakes made in 2009,” he said.

But he admitted that while international cricket had returned to Pakistan but it would take another four to five years to normalise tours by visiting teams.

Khan said while the PCB could understand the ICC?s reluctance to send match officials for the Zimbabwe series but hoped in future they would increase their support for <g data-gr-id="20">revival</g> of international cricket in Pakistan.