PCB confident Wettimuny will say yes

KARACHI: Pakistan’s calendar is chockablock with international commitments in the coming months but the country’s cricket authorities are confident of finding a window in case a foreign team agrees to visit here.
And they are targetting Sri Lanka to be that team.
Well-placed sources in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) told ‘The News’ on Thursday that hopes are high about the possibility of Zimbabwe’s ongoing tour to be followed by another home series “as soon as possible”.
The optimism in PCB springs from what a reliable source described as Sri Lanka’s positive response to Pakistan’s invitation for a series of medium duration.
“The Board has received positive vibes from the Sri Lankans about the possibility of their team visiting Pakistan,” a source said, adding that there is a chance that a deal could be sealed on the sidelines of Pakistan’s third and final One-day International against Zimbabwe at Lahore’s Qaddafi Stadium on Sunday.
The man at the helm of Pakistan’s efforts to secure another home series is Shaharyar Khan, the PCB chairman. He will be meeting Sidath Wettimuny, the former Test cricketer who is currently heading Sri Lanka Cricket’s interim committee.
Wettimuny has been invited as a special guest by PCB to witness the final ODI against Zimbabwe, which like the other games of the series, is likely to be witnessed by a packed stadium.
“Shaharyar is confident that he will convince Wettimuny to agree to his team’s tour of Pakistan. He (Wettimuny) will see for himself the sort of security arrangements that have been made for the Zimbabweans and will be told that similar measures will be taken to assure the safety of the Sri Lankans if they agreed to play in Pakistan,” the source added.
Pakistan have a series of international commitments following the home series against Zimbabwe. They will embark on a tour of Sri Lanka early next month and will then host England in the UAE before a possible series against old rivals India.
“Our schedule is pretty full but the Board will certainly find a window to fit in a series once the Sri Lankans agree to send their team to Pakistan,” a PCB official told ‘The News’.
“Our biggest goal is to revive international cricket in Pakistan and in a bid to achieve that everything else can take the backseat,” he added.
The PCB chiefs are hopeful that since Wettimuny is himself a former international cricketer he will know the importance of home games for the survival of cricket in any country.
“Everybody in the cricket world feel for Pakistan cricket. And everybody in the cricket has seen how we have welcomed the Zimbabweans. We are sure he (Wettimuny) will also want to help Pakistan cricket.”
A contemporary of Pakistan legends Imran Khan and Javed Miandad, Wettimuny played 23 Tests and 35 One-day Internationals for Sri Lanka during the eighties.
It would be a tricky decision for Sri Lanka to send its team to Pakistan considering that six years back the country’s cricket team was ambushed by armed terrorists in Lahore. The attack left eight people dead and many including Sri Lankan cricketers and team officials injured. That tragic incident forced international teams to stay away from Pakistan for more than six years. It was Zimbabwe who helped Pakistan break the ice by sending its team to Lahore to play a series of limited-overs matches.