KARACHI, Dec 24: A senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed on Wednesday that discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) will be held in Kuala Lumpur later this week to thrash out details of the early next year’s tour of Pakistan by the islanders.

Saleem Altaf, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the PCB, told reporters at the National Stadium the board is keen to host Sri Lanka for a series of three Tests and five One-day Internationals next month.

But following Tuesday’s decision by Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister Gamini Lokuge to dissolve his country’s interim cricket board headed by Arjuna Ranatunga — the 1996 World Cup-winning Sri Lankan captain — has put question marks over the proposed tour of Pakistan.

Saleem, who is due to attend the executive board meeting of the Asian Cricket Council in the Malaysian capital on Saturday, will meet the representatives of the SLC to ensure the tour goes ahead from Jan 19.

“We hope the tour will take place despite the fact there is a change in the Sri Lankan cricket board setup,” Saleem said. “The change [in the SLC] is their internal matter. But I’m sure everything would be sorted when after the meeting with Sri Lankan officials in Kuala Lumpur.”

According to reports emerging from Colombo, Lokuge has said that all decisions, including the tour of Pakistan, taken by Ranatunga would be reconsidered.

The minister also indicated that the foreign ministry will be consulted to decide whether it would be safe option for the Sri Lanka cricketers to tour Pakistan after India cancelled its scheduled trip across the border in the aftermath of last month’s attacks in Mumbai where 172 people were reportedly killed.

Saleem said the board was very keen to stage the Sri Lanka series, even though they would not be making much money out of it.

“Of course, we are in a desperate situation right now because Pakistan have not been able to play a single Test this year [2008]. We need to organize a Test series here despite the fact we may not be able to generate much income from the tour by the Sri Lankans.”

Pakistan, who have not played a Test since the last match of the series in India ended in Bangalore on Dec 12, 2007, last staged a home series against South Africa in October 2007. They hosted two ODI series against minnows Zimbabwe and Bangladesh, which were both won 5-0 by the home side.

In between Australia opted out their planned tour of Pakistan citing concerns over security while the ICC Champions Trophy was also postponed until next year after five of the eight competing teams raised similar reservations.

The only significant event to take place in Pakistan this year was the Asia Cup in June and July when the tournament, won by Sri Lanka, was held without any incident.

Saleem pointed out that the itinerary of the Sri Lankan series is almost finalized while saying the one-dayers would be played first.

“We have worked out the details of the matches against Sri Lanka and are awaiting confirmation from their board. According to the schedule, the two first ODIs will be played in Karachi, the next one in Faisalabad and the remaining two in Lahore. The first Test will be played in Lahore, the second in Multan and the final one here in Karachi,” the PCB official said.

Saleem, meanwhile, said the Sri Lankan tour would be a yardstick to determine the security arrangements for the Champions Trophy in October 2009.

“We had planned to use the India series as a yardstick for the Champions Trophy [security]. But since they are not coming, we’ll be doing the same exercise during the Sri Lankan series,” he remarked.

He also said that Australia would tour the country for the rescheduled series of limited-overs matches in April. “I have just spoken to James Sutherland [Cricket Australia’s chief executive]. So far we have not heard anything in negative regarding that series. But in case, if they express security reservations, we always have the option of playing them at a neutral venue.”

According to the PCB official, Pakistan is also scheduled to play five One-day Internationals in Bangladesh in March, shortly after the Sri Lanka tour ends. “We have planned to play five ODIs against Bangladesh from March 3,” he said.