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KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has agreed to tour Bangladesh in December for a series which will include two Tests, three one-day internationals and one Twenty20 match.
“Pakistan has not played Bangladesh in a bilateral series since early 2008 as it believed that the Bangladesh board had let it down on many occasions, especially by not supporting Pakistan when the World Cup matches were moved out of the country. But now things seem to have settled down,” a source was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India (PTI).
“Pakistan board has not been very happy with BCB since 2009 when it cancelled a bilateral one-day series between the two nations to be held in Bangladesh, immediately after the militants attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
“Pakistan team was to tour Bangladesh for the ODI series but after the attack took place, the BCB cancelled the series on security grounds, saying its government had not given clearance for the Pakistan team to play in Bangladesh,” the source explained.
Relations between Pakistan and Bangladesh’s cricket bodies had remained tense and Bangladesh even refused to send its U-19 team to Pakistan recently and asked for the series to be postponed, which greatly upset the PCB.
“The PCB officials were not satisfied with the reasons given by the Bangladesh board for not sending its team to Pakistan and asking for the series to be postponed to next year,” the source said.
However, both the boards seem to be taking a positive step forward and have put their differences aside to restore cricket ties.
“But now both boards appear to have taken steps to improve their relations and the PCB recently approved the itinerary sent for the Test series by Bangladesh,” the source said.
