LAHORE, May 22: Pakistan and India will revive home and away hockey series by playing the first match in Karachi on Sept 25, the Pakistan Hockey Federation said on Saturday.

According to the schedule of the series announced by PHF, the Indian team will land in Karachi on Sept 24, a day before the first of the four games to be played in Pakistan.

Both the countries will revive the series after almost five years. The series could not be held after 1999 because of political tension between the two nations.

The series is being revived after a recent thaw in relations between the two countries.

The decision to start the series with four matches in Pakistan was taken after a meeting between Indian and Pakistani officials on Saturday.

Although the date of the first match was decided, the dates of remaining matches to be played in Quetta, Peshawar and Lahore, would be finalized after the approval of Indian Hockey Federation (IHF).

A PHF official said initially five cities in India had been selected to host away matches and one would be dropped later. The selected cities are New Delhi, Chandigarh, Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai.

Pakistan and Indian hockey federations had appealed to their respective governments to ease visa restrictions for game's lovers, the PHF official said.

The officials of both countries decided to have one title sponsor for the entire series, while hosts would have local co-sponsors.

PTV and Doordarshan would telecast the matches live, while negotiations are under way with a Dubai-based sports channel to telecast the series.

PHF official said neutral umpires would be appointed to conduct the matches.

Meanwhile, both the federations decided to hold a series for their junior teams next year in March to prepare for Junior World Cup in the Netherlands.