Indo-Pak T-20 battle at Motera on December 27

2012 promises to end on an exciting note. First the Diwali celebrations, closely followed by Gujarat assembly poll fireworks in December and soon the Indo-Pak war at Motera when T-20 players set the pitch blazing with their shots. 

Gujaratis are surely getting prepared for the amazing fireworks on and off the field. While the English cricket will add spunk to Diwali festivities for Amdavadis, the electrifying India-Pakistan T20 encounter at Motera will help them cool their election fervour.

In the schedule announced by the BCCI on Thursday, Pakistan will commence its tour with T20 match at Bangalore on December 25 before facing the Men in Blue in Ahmedabad on December 27. 

England will be playing in Ahmedabad before and after Diwali. Haryana will entertain the touring party from November 8-11 in a warm-up game leading to the first Test from November 15 to19. 

Around the same time Gujarat will be gearing up for the assembly elections to be held on December 13 and 17. The Gujarat Cricket Association (GCA) will host the Indo-Pak tie exactly a week after the poll results are scheduled to be declared. It is to be noted here that chief minister Narendra Modi is also the presiwdent of GCA. The last time Pakistan visited Motera was in 2005. It was the fourth ODI of that series and Inzamam-ul-Haq played a captain’s innings to steer his team to a three wicket win in the encounter that saw more than 600 runs.