Pakistan want to play India offshore
Pakistan's cricket chief said Saturday he hopes his team will get to play arch-rivals India at a neutral venue in the future.
The International Cricket Council had to re-draft the Future Tour Programme (FTP) after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) complained of being marginalised in the post-2012 programme, having no series with India.
"We have received a fresh draft of the FTP which is two blocks of four years each, from 2012 to 2016 and to 2020," said PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. "In it we have Tests, one-dayers and Twenty20 matches with India."
The FTP, introduced in 2006, aims to provide a structured schedule of cricket for the 10 member countries.
And Butt said India have shown interest in playing at neutral venues.
"It is natural that governments of both countries will have to approve any cricket series but there have been efforts to revive Indo-Pak cricket and India has shown interest in playing on neutral venues," said Butt.
India refused to tour Pakistan amid heightened tension between Islamabad and New Delhi after the Mumbai attacks last year. India were supposed to tour Pakistan earlier this year.
"We need a busy FTP in order to survive and playing against India is the top priority, and that's why we demanded changes in the FTP," said Butt, adding that the FTP would be discussed at the ICC before being finalised.
Pakistan was stripped of its World Cup matches after a deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March. The International Cricket Council relocated the matches to three other co-hosts -- India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.
Even before the attacks that killed eight people and left seven Sri Lankan players and an assistant coach injured, foreign teams had refused to tour Pakistan because of security fears.
In the last 12 months, Pakistan played the West Indies and Australia in the United Arab Emirates in one day series matches. Pakistan will also play New Zealand in a limited over series in the UAE next month.
Pakistan were also forced to move their home Test series to New Zealand late in November and will play two Tests against Australia in England next year.
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