PESHAWAR, Jan 23: Officials of NWFP Cricket Association (NWFPCA) and Peshawar District Cricket Association (PDCA) are hopeful that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would allocate a Test match against India at the Arbab Niaz Stadium , Shahi Bagh, in the proposed March-April series between the two countries,

"The final decision is yet to be taken, but it is quite likely that Peshawar would get a Test match during the upcoming Indian tour. The position will become much clearer in a couple of days", said Anwarzeb Khan, president of the NWFP Cricket Association (NWFPCA) while talking to Dawn.

He said that the itinerary had already been sent to India, the response of which is expected in a few days. However, he expressed satisfaction over the PCB chief Shehrayar Khan's recent statement wherein he had hinted that Peshawar and Karachi, would certainly stage matches against India. Both these centres, had been deprived of the international matches owing to security reasons in the past.

The NWFPCA official expected PCB's boss to honour his commitment of allotting Test match to Peshawar, which he said had so far organised six Tests successfully.

Meanwhile, secretary of the Peshawar District Cricket Association (PDCA) Abdul Aziz Khan told Dawn that all teams, which had so far played at the Arbab Niaz Stadium, had never complained in the past about the behaviour of the crowd nor of the security arrangements.

Pakistan's last match here was against Bangladesh last August and despite being one of the weakest sides among the cricket playing countries, the match had drawn tremendous crowd despite oppressive weather conditions.

Last year, the local cricket fans were disappointed when South Africa refused to play at 17,000 seat capacity Arbab Niaz Stadium for security reasons. The PCB had received a letter from the United Cricket Board (UCB) of South Africa to shift the Test matches from Peshawar and Karachi. South Africa, the world second best team was scheduled to play a Test match against Pakistan on October 16, last year.

Later New Zealand also decided not to play in Peshawar citing security concerns, which again disappointed thousands of cricket-lovers. Officials contend that the NWFP had several players in the national squad and the local spectators also want to see them in action on local turf.

They stressed that there had never been a mishap during the Test matches or One Day Internationals (ODIs) on the basis of which, matches could be shifted to other venues from Peshawar. "We are sure that the PCB will not bow to any demand of not allocating a Test match to Peshawar under pressure from visiting teams" they added.