KARACHI, July 12: The itinerary of Pakistan’s tour to India this winter has been revised with the first One-day International to be played in Guwahati instead of Faridabad on Nov 5.

According to the original itinerary, which the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced last month, Pakistan were slated to play the ODI series opener in Faridabad on Nov 6 after arriving in Delhi four days earlier for a series of five One-day Internationals — all day fixtures — and three Tests.

But according to the revised schedule, which is subject to approval from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after a security team visits India, the Pakistan team would now land in Delhi on Nov 1 and after a practice match the next day, the tourists will leave for the major Assam city to launch the ODI series.

The BCCI has also brought forward the second one-dayer in Mohali by a day. This game will now take place on Nov 8, because of Diwali — the Hindu festival of lights — which falls on Nov 9 this year.

The reason to change the venue for Pakistan’s first ODI is that the BCCI has now decided to shift the fourth match of the India v Australia ODI rubber from Guwahati to the Sector 16 Stadium in Chandigarh which last staged an international fixture in January 1993 when Graham Gooch’s England side visited India.

World champions Australia are scheduled to play seven ODIs against India prior to the Pakistan series. Their matches are slated for Bangalore (Sept 29), Kochi (Oct 2), Hyderabad (Oct 5), Chandigarh (Oct 8), Baroda (Oct 11), Nagpur (Oct 14) and Mumbai (Oct 17).

Pakistan’s remaining ODIs will be played in Kanpur (Nov 12), Gwalior (Nov 15) and Jaipur (Nov 18). The Tests are scheduled for Delhi (Nov 22-26), Kolkata (Nov 30-Dec 4) and Bangalore (Dec 8-12).

Interestingly, Guwahati’s Nehru Stadium, which has staged just nine ODIs since Dec 1983, is one of those northern venues which have been plagued with natural problems such as early morning fog and fading light in the late afternoon.

The fifth match of the India-England limited-overs series there in April 2006 was marred by crowd trouble after it was abandoned without a ball being bowled when the umpires — Rudi Koertzen of South Africa and local official Arani Jayaprakash — found the outfield heavily soaked due to overnight rain.

Malcolm Speed, the ICC Chief Executive, sought explanation from the BCCI over what he described then was a ‘serious breach of security’ after the trouble escalated when the angry mob targeted the TV cameras.

On that occasion, at least four cameras were totally destroyed with damage worth 146,000 to 180,000 US dollars.

Moreover, the crowd lit bonfires and threw various flammable objects over the fence when the police used tear gas to disperse the mob. Some of the policemen, who were attacked in retaliation, took shelter behind the sightscreen and used advertising hoardings to protect themselves.

For both Pakistan and India, it will be a hectic series after participating in the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship in South Africa. Pakistan will hardly have any time to recuperate after hosting the South Africans from late September to Oct 29 for two Tests and five ODIs. Such is the taxing schedule that will see Pakistan play 10 energy-sapping One-day Internationals plus a practice game within a space of 32 days.

India, who are currently in England, face a much more strenuous schedule compared to Pakistan. They play the last of the seven ODIs against England on Sept 8 before flying off to South Africa for the Twenty20 tournament which runs from Sept 11 to 24.

After hosting Australia and Pakistan, the Indians then travel to Australia for four Tests (from Dec 26 to Jan 28) and the triangular one-day series, also involving Sri Lanka (Feb 3 to March 4, if India reach the finals).

Pakistan tour of India: