By IANS
Lahore : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has chosen four venues — Karachi, Multan, Lahore and Faisalabad – for hosting 10 matches during Australia’s tour to the country in March-April.
PCB’s Director Cricket Operations Zakir Khan said the priority was to provide “best available facilities” and the four venues “suited the purpose adequately”, Dawn newspaper reported Thursday.
Australia are to play five One-day Internationals and three Tests, besides a Twenty-20 International game and a side match.
“In choosing the four top cities for the matches, PCB is obviously mindful of the security concerns expressed by foreign teams who remain apprehensive about playing in cities like Peshawar or Rawalpindi which have experienced a lot of turmoil recently due to frequent bomb blasts and unrest among the tribal areas,” said the paper.
The Australian cricketers have expressed apprehension on touring Pkaistan following the assassination of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in December near Rawalpindi. According to Khan, renovation at the Pindi Stadium is still in progress and that’s why it was ruled out for the series against Australia.
The tour itself is far from confirmed. “The tour, which is currently in the doldrums, now awaits a final approval from a Cricket Australia (CA) security delegation which would be travelling to Pakistan after the country’s general elections on Feb 18,” said the paper.
“The recent explosion in Pindi’s Raja Bazaar sadly coincided with the efforts of PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf who has flown to Dubai to convince Cricket Australia (CA) delegates about the Australia tour.”
Karachi too has faced a lot of problems in recent years and has frequently been avoided by prominent teams due to security reasons.