Dubai: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has stuck to it’s plans to stage the

limited-over series against Sri Lanka only in Pakistan and not at a neutral
venue.

Ehsan Mani, chairman of the PCB, has ruled out all possibilities of shifting the
three One-Day Internationals (ODIs) and T20Is from Karachi and Lahore
following the Sri Lankan government receiving an alert of a possible terrorist
threat to the Sri Lanka team. Earlier, ten top Sri Lankan cricketers had refused
to tour Pakistan fearing security threats.

“Our decision is very clear and we are not exploring any other neutral venue.
We don’t have the time to shift or look out for any other option right now. Our
default position is that it is Pakistan’s home series and it will be played in the
country. This has been the understanding right from the start and we are in
discussions with the Sri Lanka board and they are also very positive about
sending their team,” Mani said.

UAE has been hosting Pakistan’s international matches ever since the terrorist
attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in 2009. The ODI matches are
scheduled for September 27, 29, and October 2 and three T20Is will be played
on October 5, 7 and 9.

Following the pullout of the top players, Sri Lanka had announced a below-par
team for the series in Pakistan. The ODI team will be led by Lahiru
Thirimanne, while T20 team will be headed by Dasun Shanaka. Two days after
the announcement of the ODI and T20 teams, the Sri Lankan government
received a terror alert that threatened to throw the entire tour into jeopardy.
Mani revealed that PCB was in contact with Sri Lanka Cricket officials and that
he hadn’t heard anything negative from Sri Lanka about the tour. “We are just
waiting for a final call from their government and I hope things will go in our
favour,” said Mani.

Meanwhile, Sharjah Cricket Stadium, which had regularly hosted Pakistan’s

international matches, especially the T20 format matches, would be available
if Pakistan needed to stage the limited-overs series here in UAE on a short
notice. This has been made possible as the Afghanistan Premier League,
scheduled to be held at Sharjah next month, has got postponed due to the
league’s commercial partner failing to pay the Afghanistan Cricket Board
(ACB) the rights money. The ACB has now terminated the agreement with
partner Snixer Sports and plans to stage their league only in 2020.

Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan, it is learnt, wants PCB to pull out all the
stops to bring international cricket back to Pakistan. Mani has even stated that
plans are on to stage all matches of the fifth edition of the Pakistan Super
League (PSL) in Pakistan itself and not in the UAE. However, the PCB has also
asked to keep the Sharjah ground free as a back-up in case many top
international cricketers pull out.