COLOMBO, Dec 19: Sri Lanka on Friday announced it will tour Pakistan next month in place of India, who cancelled their five-week series over the Mumbai attacks.

“We have a duty as a friendly neighbour in the region to help Pakistan when it is needed most,” the head of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC), Arjuna Ranatunga, said.

Ranatunga, the former Test captain, added that Sri Lanka had raised “security issues” with Pakistan and awaited a response. Several cricket tours to Pakistan since 2004 have not taken place as touring sides cited security fears and opted out.

An SLC spokesman said they agreed to take India’s place and ask the hosts to scrap two Twenty20 games and turn them into one-day matches.

Earlier in the day, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had said Sri Lanka agreed to tour the country in place of India after playing in Bangladesh by mid January.

“We are thankful to Sri Lankan Cricket for confirming a tour in place of India,” PCB’s Chief Operating Officer Saleem Altaf said in Karachi. “Sri Lanka are busy in Bangladesh and once they are free they will tour us.

“We have sent a full itinerary to Sri Lanka and as soon as it is finalised we will announce it,” he added.

Sri Lanka are likely to play Test matches in Karachi, Lahore and Multan, while Karachi would host the two proposed one-dayers. The remaining one-dayers would likely be played in Lahore.

Pakistan last played a Test match in December last year, against India in Bangalore.

Sri Lanka will play two Tests in Bangladesh and feature in a tri-series there with Zimbabwe until Jan 16.

India on Thursday called off their tour of Pakistan after New Delhi refused to grant the team permission to travel across the border in the wake of last month’s attacks on Mumbai.

The PCB has suffered a huge financial loss due to cancellation of Indian series, largely from TV rights but also gate receipts, and will recover only a fraction of that by hosting Sri Lanka.“I can’t say what the figure is,” Saleem said. “But one thing is sure that the amount of money we would have generated from the TV rights from hosting the series against India has no comparison what we will be getting from the Sri Lankan series.”

The PCB official also said that the board would soon be holding a meeting to take some policy decisions on the participation of Pakistani players in the Twenty20 leagues in India.

“It is something we need to look at because of the existing relations between the two countries and the fact that India has decided not to have cricket ties with us at the moment,” he expressed.

Around 30 Pakistani cricketers, many of them members of the current national side, are signed up to play for the official Indian Premier League (IPL) and the rebel Indian Cricket League (ICL).—Agencies