By Omar Khalid, IANS,
Lahore : Pakistan Thursday gave its consent to Bangladesh’s decision to put off its home series against Pakistan following government advice about security concerns.
Ijaz Butt, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, said here that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) officials discussed the issue with the PCB before announcing that the one-day series which was to be played March 10-24 has been postponed.
“We told them (BCB) that we have no problems if the series is postponed as long as they will be able to find adequate dates for the matches,” Butt told reporters here at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Bangladesh’s decision came two days after several policemen were killed following an armed attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore. Pakistan had already announced a 16-man squad and were supposed to leave for Bangladesh March 7 to play two Twenty20 matches and five one-day internationals.
Butt said that Bangladesh decided to postpone the series after the International Cricket Council (ICC) asked it to beef up security for the matches.
“Bangladesh decided that there wasn’t enough time to take extra security measures. They have told us that a meeting is currently on (in Dhaka) in which the new dates are being worked out. We should receive the new itinerary in the next two hours.”
Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Younis Khan has welcomed the postponement of the series, saying that it will give his players more time to recover from the shock of Tuesday’s tragic incident.