PCB aims to bring top five Test teams to Pakistan

After successfully hosting Pakistan Super League (PSL) playoffs and West Indies series in the country, it looks like Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is now gearing up to bring top five Test playing nations to the country.

In this regard, PCB chief is keenly looking forward for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) meeting in Kolkata later this month. “The ICC meeting will be an important platform for us to talk to other board officials and try to convince them to send teams to Pakistan for bilateral series,” Sethi told the media on Wednesday.

The meeting in Kolkata, to be held from April 22 to April 26, is expected to give final touches to the new Future Tours Program to run from 2019.

Sethi said that after successfully hosting the PSL final and the three T20 series against the West Indies in Karachi, the PCB was in a position to try to convince the other Boards to support Pakistan cricket by sending teams for series.

Pakistan now firmly place at Number One

“The good thing is that Giles Clarke who heads the ICC’s Special Task Force on Pakistan Cricket will also be briefing the ICC Board members on the return of international cricket to Pakistan,” Sethi said.

He said Clarke was happy with the way the PCB had organised the PSL final and T20 series and was confident that a top-five Test team could be convinced to play in Pakistan.

Sethi said Pakistan had involved top security experts approved by the ICC and who were in touch with FICA and other Boards while making security plans for the matches in Lahore and Karachi.

With two home series lined up against Australia and New Zealand in the UAE later this year, Sethi said slowly and surely the time would come when even top teams will come to Pakistan.