Sri Lanka likely venue for Indo-Pak series

Sri Lanka has offered itself as a neutral venue for a proposed series between archrivals India and Pakistan to break a deadlock over where to play the matches, cricket officials said Tuesday. He also recalled the shared religious links with both Buddhism and Hinduism coming to Sri Lanka from India. It was reported that Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) wanted the decision to be announced either by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) or jointly with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

India were originally scheduled to play Pakistan in a full-fledged series, involving Tests, ODIs and T20 Internationals.

The decision was taken after the PCB chief met BCCI president Shashank Manohar in Dubai on Sunday. European Central Bank supremo and chairman of "Pakistan Task Force" Giles Clarke was also present at the meeting in Dubai.

Earlier, Manohar told The National newspaper that India have not received a reply from the PCB on a proposal to play the matches in India. I think this is a great opportunity for us to support Pakistan and India.

"Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were considered as the venues and finally it was agreed that Sri Lanka was the right choice to host the Indo-Pak series", said the source.

According to Khan, Pakistan government has no objection in playing at a neutral venue however seeking approval was mandatory.

Under the new understanding, the two boards had agreed to play six bilateral series between 2015 and 2023, with four series to be hosted by Pakistan. "The dates of the matches will be between December 20 and January 3", Gunasekera added. All series were subject to clearance from the respective governments.

Later the BCCI said it will have to get permission from their new Modi-led government for the said series.

Colombo and Kandy are being looked at as two possible venues for the short limited-overs series. "I was one of the players signed up by Kerry Packer to be part of World Series Cricket in 1977 and it was through my involvement that I was exposed to day-night matches for the first time", wrote Abbas.