Sri Lanka to host Pak-India cricket series

He also recalled the shared religious links with both Buddhism and Hinduism coming to Sri Lanka from India.

“Since PCB will need the permission of Nawaz Sharif before going official, Shaharyar Khan will need to go back to Islamabad and seek the Prime Minister’s permission”. So holding the series in neutral ground like Sri Lanka was one of the proposals the PCB placed at the Dubai meeting.

This will be the first time that a Test playing nation has rejected playing a series in the UAE since it became Pakistan’s adopted home after the 2009 Lahore attacks.

“The Board is hoping to receive directions from the prime minister within the next two days and it expected that if the series gets a go-ahead then the various details will be announced by the end of this week”, a source said.

Pakistan and India have not played a bilateral series since 2007 as cricketing ties between the two countries hit a roadblock after the Mumbai attack in 2008.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, while emerging out of the talks at the ICC headquarters in Sports City area of Dubai, Khan had told the waiting media that the talks were fruitful but had refrained from divulging in information on the nature of the talks with his Indian counterpart.

With both boards now standing firm on their respective stances, where BCCI made it clear that they will not play in the United Arab Emirates and the PCB refusing to play in India.

With only a month’s window available after India finish their Test Series against South Africa on December 7, the series is likely to be confined to three ODIs and two T20 Internationals.

A Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) official said Khettarama and Pallekele were the likeliest venues to host the tour. “The dates of the matches will be between December 20 and January 3”, Gunasekera added.

There is a potential clash since Khettarama is scheduled to host domestic T20 matches on December 23rd and 30th, but those games may be moved elsewhere. Sri Lanka’s cricket board (SLC) officials confirmed this development to TOI on Monday. Sources said that Ten Sports which has an ongoing five-year deal with PCB will be the official broadcasters of the series.