The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) says the West Indies will be the latest international team to tour Pakistan.
Najam Sethi, the PCB chairman, said the West Indies will visit Pakistan for a series of three T20Is, all of which will be played in Karachi.
These matches were originally scheduled for April 1, 2 and 4, but the final one has been pulled forward by a day “so as not to clash with the death anniversary of former prime minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,” according to ESPNcricinfo.
It said these will be the first international matches in Karachi since the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore brought international cricket in Pakistan to a virtual halt.
Pakistan have played nearly all their “home” matches in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) since then, ESPNcricinfo said.
It said there has been “a slow trickle” of international teams returning to Pakistan since 2015, with Zimbabwe, a World XI, and most recently Sri Lanka making short visits for limited-overs games. But all of them were confined to the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore, ESPNcricinfo said.
“I have been working day and night to conclude an agreement with West Indies, which I have just finalized an hour ago,” Sethi said on Mar. 11.
“Good news is that West Indies will play three games, on [April, 1, 2 and 3], but these matches will be played in Karachi,” he added. “They will not play in Lahore but in Karachi. “That is how we intend to put Karachi back on the cricket map once again. Karachi people should welcome this.”
Sethi said Reg Dickason, the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) security consultant, would visit Karachi during the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final to look at the security arrangements for the series, ESPNcricinfo said.
“We have a separate agreement with the West Indies in which we are exploring a tri-lateral series including Pakistan, West Indies and one other country, which will be played in the USA over next five years,” Sethi further disclosed.
“The details about the venues, dates, financial model will be discussed later; but, in principle, it has decided that three countries will play in the USA,” he added.
