Shaharyar Khan to convince Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to support Pakistan cricket

PCB chief Shaharyar Khan will make an effort to reach out to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to bring back international cricket to Pakistan. Khan made his way to Colombo on Saturday, where he will chair the Asian Cricket Council meeting.

During the meet, the PCB will look to convince its Bangladeshi and Sri Lankan counterparts to send their respective teams to Pakistan for a bilateral series. Khan will also try and gain the other boards’ support for the proposed system of two-tier test cricket as laid out by the ICC.

Recently, the Bangladesh Cricket Board refused an invitation from the PCB to play two T20Is in Pakistan.

“The PCB got a shock after reading the statement by the media spokesman of the Bangladesh Cricket Board that they had turned down an invitation to play a couple of T20 matches in Pakistan this year because of security concerns,” a PCB source told PTI.

The Bangladesh board cited security reasons, and hence declined the PCB’s invitation. Security experts from Bangladesh who travelled to Lahore to assess the situation prior to the PSL final were dissatisfied with the current state of affairs in Pakistan.

“Shaharyar will discuss in detail the security situation in Pakistan with both boards and try to convince them to support Pakistan cricket at this time,” the source added.

Although the entire tournament was held in the UAE, Lahore had successfully hosted the final of the PSL amidst tight security. Nevertheless, many foreign players including Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Rossouw and Luke Wright chose not to travel to Pakistan for the final.

“There is a feeling in the PCB that perhaps more needs to be done to streamline relations with the Bangladesh and Sri Lankan boards, especially keeping in mind several contentious issues and proposals that will come up for voting at the next ICC meeting,” he said.

It was the touring Sri Lankan team which was attacked in Pakistan back in 2009. Since then, international cricket has dried up in the country. Zimbabwe, however, toured Pakistan for a full limited-overs series in 2015.