KARACHI: With each passing day the prospects of the long-awaited bilateral cricket series between Pakistan and India, slated for later this year, is gradually fading away after the Indian board released on Monday an extensive tour by South Africa.

The Proteas, the top-ranked Test team, will play four Tests in India for the first time between Nov 5 and Dec 7 during the 72-day trip which also includes three Twenty20 Internationals as well as five One-day Internationals from Oct 2 until Oct 25.

India will launch a busy schedule of international cricket from next month when they travel to Sri Lanka for a three-Test series that concludes on Sept 1. After that they are slated to tour Australia where they will face the World Cup champions in five One-day Internationals from Jan 12 to 23 before those countries begin final preparations for the ICC World Twenty20 in March/April next year with three games between Jan 26 and Jan 31.

Pakistan themselves are bracing for a tight scheduling of matches when they play ‘host’ to England in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from Sept 30 until Dec 1 with three Tests sandwiched between three Twenty20 Internationals and four One-day Internationals.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) released England’s itinerary last week after it emerged a proposed tri-series in Zimbabwe involving West Indies and Pakistan won’t take place with the board chief Shaharyar M. Khan stating there was no agreement in place to play the triangular event in Harare.

This development, curiously enough, shaped up only after Pakistan secured the ODI series against Sri Lanka by winning the fourth match in Colombo last Wednesday to move above ninth-placed West Indies in the ICC team rankings with an unbeatable 3-1 advantage. Pakistan might have ended with two further points than 90 (as mentioned in the ICC’s media release issued on Monday) if they had not lost Sunday’s final game to the hosts in Hambantota.

And despite winning the one-day series 3-2 in Sri Lanka, Pakistan are still uncertain of playing the 2017 Champions Trophy in England and Wales with another theory being spread around by a section of media that the Indians might plan a window to host West Indies — who have no international commitments until they travel to Australia for three Tests in December/January — before the Sept 30 deadline for the ICC competition in a bid to prevent their arch rivals from participating.

For the West Indies to qualify, all they need is to win the series by two clear matches to regain the eighth spot in the ICC rankings, if the most powerful of the ICC’s Big Three acts swiftly and throw an invitation to the West Indies to further embarrass Pakistan.

With the sensitive political relationship between Pakistan and India far from cordial right now, it seems unlikely that the high-profile bilateral series of cricket fixtures between them would be feasible in the near future.

The cricket boards of the two nations inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2014 to play against each between 2015 and 2023 in six series with the first of four to be hosted by Pakistan scheduled to take place in the UAE this December.

Pakistan last met India bilaterally when they went across the border for a brief limited-overs series in December 2012, while a full series between them have not taken place since the November 2008 Mumbai terror attacks — almost a year after Pakistan had toured India for five one-dayers and three Tests.

The tours between Pakistan and India are commonly decided at the cricket boards’ level but only take place after the governments of both countries get involved to give approval. When the MoU was signed, the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had not come into power in India.

Unless there is a go-ahead signal from the Indian government forthcoming, Pakistan’s hopes of staging the series look bleak as there are issues pertaining to broadcasting rights — the BCCI is unhappy with the broadcasters of Pakistan cricket since they are a subsidiary of a group which wanted to organise a breakaway T20 series — adding spice to the lingering episode plus the fact that there is hardly any window available to slot in a series other than December.

To make matters more complicated, the PCB is still adamant about holding the contentious Pakistan Super League next February in the UAE after making an official announcement to this effect in June. And with the World Twenty20 taking place in India from March 11 to April 3, there is no room for Pakistan to host India.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2015

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