ISLAMABAD: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Anurag Thakur on Tuesday said that there is no series planned against arch-rivals Pakistan this year.

“No series planned against Pakistan this year. India will only play against them in multi-national tournaments,” Thakur said.

The two arch-rivals had to play a bilateral series in December last year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in 2014 between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the BCCI.

However, the series could not take place after the BCCI stepped back from their agreement.

Now it is most likely that Pakistan and India this year will only play cricket against each other in the Asia Cup T20 and the ICC World Twenty20.

The Asia Cup T20 will be held in Bangladesh from Feb 24 to March 6 whereas the World Twenty20 will take place in India from March 8 to April 3.

Last time, Pakistan and India played a full bilateral series was in 2007.

However, Pakistan, toured India for a short limited-overs series in 2012-13, comprising three ODIs and a couple of Twenty20 games. The ODI series was won by Pakistan 2-1 while the two-match T20 rubber ended in stalemate.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2016