PCB chief Shahryar Khan hopeful of Indo-Pak ODI series taking off by year end

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Shaharyar Khan has said he is hopeful about the India-Pakistan one day series taking off at the end of the year after receiving a reply from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to meet in Dubai next month to discuss the matter on the sidelines of an ICC meeting.

The PCB-BCCI meeting is expected to take place between October 8 and 13, the Express Tribune reports. The paper quoted Shaharyar Khan, as saying that PCB patron-in-chief Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has also backed the need for going ahead with the cricket series.

Khan said that he hopes India would stick to their commitment. On his visit to India, Khan said it was not related to talks about the proposed series, but to condole the death of former BCCI president Jagmohan Dalmiya.

Khan had written a letter to BCCI honorary secretary Anurag Thakur, seeking an update on the proposed bilateral series between Pakistan and India.

Thakur had earlier ruled out an immediate resumption of a bilateral series in the wake of two terror strikes in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir respectively by Pakistan-based militants. According to the MoU signed between the PCB and the BCCI, both countries are scheduled to play six series under the 2015-2023 Future Tours Programme, subject to clearance from the Indian Government.

India has not played a full bilateral Test series with Pakistan since 2008 when the Mumbai terror attacks took place.