India Pakistan series possibly to be played at a neutral venue

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) president Shashank Manohar, who is also the Chairman of International Cricket Council (ICC) met Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) head Shahryar Khan on Sunday afternoon at the ICC headquarters at Dubai to discuss the proposed India Pakistan series in December.

The meeting was also attended by PCB Executive Committee head Najam Sethi and Giles Clarke, the president of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and also the ‘Pakistan Task Force’ Chairman. At the end it was described as a fruitful meeting.

“PCB & BCCI officials had a fruitful discussion in ICC office Dubai facilitated by ECB’s Giles Clarke who will field all questions in the matter,” Najam Sethi later tweeted.

“We had a fruitful meeting in which Sethi was there, Clarke was there as the facilitator, it was a fruitful meeting and the decision is that Clarke will brief the media tomorrow. We have also decided that there will be no further briefing. I am not in a position to say more than this,” Shahryar Khan said post the meet to the media.

Shahryar Khan also maintained that Pakistan team will not travel to India and would play the series in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), as agreed under the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last year.  Khan clearly indicated that the final decision on the series will only be taken by the Pakistani government.

“The matter is now political, “Pakistan’s prime minister Nawaz Sharif has directed us that any decision will now be taken by the government and not by the PCB.”

It is expected that Sri Lanka or Bangladesh will most likely be the neutral venue to host the India Pakistan series. If all goes well, India might soon play Pakistan as anticipated. However, with no swift decision on the series coming soon and time is running out fast, the series may have to be shortened. India has an ODI series planned with Australia earlier next year starting 12th January. They were earlier scheduled to play 2 Tests, 5 ODIs and 2 Twenty20 internationals, but now it seems that both teams will be only playing the limited overs contests. India last played Pakistan in full bilateral series in the year 2007.