LAHORE - The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a press release on Sunday said it was committed to hosting a full Pakistan-India series in December this year at the United Arab Emirates (UAE), dismissing what it said was "speculation in Indian media" suggesting that PCB had agreed on holding the series in India. The 'clarification' came hours after The Hindustan Times quoted PCB chief Shaharyar Khan as saying that Pakistan would like to play its home matches in India. “We would like to make India our home,” Shaharyar told the Hindustan Times newspaper. “India will be more cost-effective,” he said, adding that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have also offered to host home matches.
The news release from the PCB said the board intended to adhere to the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last year between the two cricket boards, which stipulated the series would be hosted in the United Arab Emirates ? or a mutually agreed venue ? by Pakistan.
The PCB release went on to say that no alternative venue had been proposed by the BCCI, nor had the issue been raised with Shaharyar Khan by BCCI President Jagmohan Dalmiya or secretary-general Anurag Thakur during the PCB chairman's recent visit to India. "The PCB remains steadfast in expecting BCCI to abide by the MoU," the press release said.
Pakistan's cricket body is waiting for the Indian federal government to give BCCI the green signal for the Pak-India series due in December, "particularly after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's public indication that his government would support the revival of the cricket series."
The Pakistan-India tour will comprise three Tests, five one-dayers and two Twenty20 games. Former PCB chairman Najam Sethi, who signed MoUs with the BCCI for six bilateral series to be contested during the next eight years, claimed the PCB would earn a whopping Rs30 billion by hosting India in the proposed series.