Itinerary of T20I series against Windies changed

SHARJAH: Pakistan’s cricket authorities were on Tuesday forced to change the itinerary of their eagerly-awaited Twenty20 International series against the visiting West Indies because of the death anniversary of former Prime Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced that instead of April 1, 2 and 4, the three T20 Internationals against the West Indians will be played in Karachi on three consecutive days.

This means that the short series has become even shorter and will begin on April 1 and conclude on the 3rd. It could be the first time that a three-match international series will be played without a single rest day in between. But the Board had no other option as the Sindh government had requested PCB to not have a match on April 4, when the province will be observing the 39th death anniversary of Zulfiqar Bhutto, who was the founder of the Pakistan People’s Party, Sindh’s ruling party.

“The West Indies will play three T20 matches with Pakistan in National Stadium Karachi on 1st, 2nd and 3rd April 2018,” a PCB media release said.

“The dates have been adjusted so that there is no match on the occasion of Barsi of ex-PM of Pakistan Z. A. Bhutto on April 4th. This has been done on the advice of Sindh Government,” it concluded.