India and Pakistan to play ODI series in December?
Breaking News: India and Pakistan may play cricket again after five years. The cricket boards of the two countries have agreed in principal to play three One Day International (ODI) matches in December this year and the BCCI says, only the approval of the Indian government is now needed.
The ODI series, if it’s on, will be played during the Christmas break and in India. Mohali, New Delhi and Dharamsala are the venues tentatively picked.
India has a packed cricket schedule this year and the India vsPakistan matches will be accommodated in the middle of England tour to India. England will finish the Tests series and the team will fly back for Christmas. They will be back in the New Year to play ODIs.
An India vs Pakistan encounter on the cricket field will be miraculously for fans, the two countries last played a Test and ODI series way back in 2007.
The Mumbai terror attacks of 2008 plunging bilateral ties between the two countries to an all-time low. Cricket suffered. India were scheduled to tour Pakistan in January 2009, but most players said they were reluctant to go.
The Sri Lanka stepped in and agreed to tour Pakistan instead, but a terror attack on the visiting team in Lahore on March 3, 2009, saw an end to international cricket in Pakistan. Since then, no international team has toured Pakistan. Even World Cup 2011 matches scheduled to be played in Pakistan were shifted to other venues in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief has held several meetings with BCCI president N Srinivasan. Later this year, the BCCI has invited Pakistan’s domestic champion outfit the Sialkot Stallions to participate in the qualifying Tournament of Champions League Twenty20 to be held in South Africa later this year.
For the last five years, India and Pakistan have only played each other in multi-team series and in the famous semi-final of the 2010 World Cup when India defeated Pakistan at Mohali.
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