PCB Chairman optimistic about hosting of all its future series at home
Last updated on: 10 December,2019 11:49 pm
Mani said our position will remain the same that Pakistan is safe.
ISLAMABAD (APP) – Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ehsan Mani on Tuesday said the board was in correspondence with other cricket boards and it was expected that the country would soon start hosting all its home series at its own venues.
“Pakistan plans to play all its future tour matches in Pakistan as the country was safe for all sorts of games. The onus will be on the other teams to tell us why they do not want to come to Pakistan.”
“If we have dealt with the security issues but if it’s political then it is very clear that we can’t play at neutral venues. Our position will remain the same that Pakistan is safe and if you want to play us then you have to come here,” Mani said while talking to media here at a local hotel.
Speaking about convincing other foreign teams to tour Pakistan, Mani said PCB hosted Cricket Australia (CA), Ireland Cricket Board (ICR) and England Cricket Board (ECB) top officials for talks upon the futures tour to Pakistan.
“People had a misconception about Pakistan and when CA, ICR and ECB officials visited here they saw the ground reality,” he said and quoted ICR chief executive saying that why we should not come to Pakistan.
Mani said we were due to play England in 2021 and 2022. “We are in serious discussions with them about coming to Pakistan.
So far they have been very supportive and I fully expect them to come and play in Pakistan,” he said.
“Similarly CA Chief Executive had been to Pakistan and he has come back with a totally different prospection of what he thought Pakistan was like. I’m hoping I’ll get the CA chairman also to come to Pakistan shortly,” he said.
“I am absolutely confident that Pakistan will host England in 2021, 2022 and Australia in 2022,” he said.
To a question, he said we had excellent conditions and a strong bond with Sri Lanka. “We have their full strength Test team coming to Pakistan,” he said.
“We have kept Rs 50 tickets for the people to enjoy the longer-format of the game,” he said.
Mani said we didn’t had enough time to do marketing for this (Pakistan-Sri Lanka tests) but going forward we will be working hard to ensure engaging young people from schools and colleges to come and support us.