Australia open to hosting series with Pakistan and India
Cricket
Australia open to hosting series with Pakistan and India
MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia would be open to hosting Asian arch-rivals Pakistan and India in a series to revive a contest world cricket wants to see, board chief Nick Hockley said.
Pakistan and India s rivalry has been confined to events sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the Asia Cup for the best part of a decade due to the strained relations between them.
They last played a bilateral series when India hosted Pakistan for white-ball matches at the end of 2012.
Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ramiz Raja in January proposed an annual four-nation T20 series involving Pakistan, India, Australia and England to be hosted on a rotational basis by the teams.
Cricket Australia Chief Executive Hockley said his board had not discussed the proposal but would be open to hosting Pakistan and India in a tri-series.
"Personally, I really like the tri-series concept. It s worked well in the past," he told reporters in Rawalpindi, where Australia and Pakistan drew the first test in their three-match series. "We d be very open to hosting ... matches," "There are really big communities of both India and Pakistan living in Australia.
"It s a contest that everyone wants to see in world cricket and if we can help support further opportunities we would love to do that."
Such a series would be unlikely to happen in the short- to medium-term, with the Future Tour Programme, the ICC s international schedule, mapped out through to 2023.
Pakistan and India are scheduled to play each other at the ICC-sanctioned T20 World Cup in Australia in October.
Hockley said the Oct. 23 match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground was already sold out.
