After the entire dilemma which happened recently over India playing Pakistan and the series being hosted by Pakistan for which the BCCI sent a proposal asking for those matches to be played in India but the matches will still be hosted by Pakistan; both the cricket boards have not come no board with the current terms that suitable to both of them and hence the series has been finalized.
According to a PCB source the series will be played from December 24th to January 5th. The series is pretty much finalized but a final nod from the government of India is still pending which should not have any hiccups there since the series location is a neutral one in Sri Lanka.
The entire series is a pretty short one with three One Day Internationals and 2 T20 international matches. Interestingly there are chances that this might be reduced to two ODIs as there might be some logistical and organizational issues as there is very less time for the PCB to get it all ready in time for the matches.
On top of this, the months of December and January is monsoon in Sri Lanka, so the PCB will have to coordinate accordingly with the Sri Lanka Cricket Board for selecting the venues and make sure the matches don’t get washed out. “The PCB also has to contend with the fact that it is rainy season in Colombo in December and they will have to select venues in consultation with the Sri Lanka Cricket carefully so that bad weather does not affect these matches,” the source said.
The source also added, “The series will be played probably in Sri Lanka in such a manner that both the teams leave for their tours to New Zealand and Australia straight from Colombo. Most probably both teams will go from Colombo directly to their destinations.”
The BCCI had requested a period of rest for its players after the tough series against South Africa which India won handsomely. For this reason the dates of the tour need to be arranged in such a way so that the Indian team gets about 10-12 days of good rest before the start of the next series.
Both India and Pakistan have series scheduled in Australia and New Zealand respectively. Apparently they both will be leaving for down under on January 7th, straight from Colombo after the end of their bilateral series. India is to play the hosts in a Test, ODI and T20 series, while Pakistan has only a limited overs series.
After getting to know the schedule, Pakistan coach Waqar Younis made a request to the PCB that if the Indian series gets a go ahead, then we wants to conduct a week long camp before the matches in Sri Lanka for the players to get accustomed to the conditions as India is no slouch team for the arch-rivals to handle.
rounak