Lankans to tour Pakistan next month

Pakistan will host Sri Lanka for six limited over internationals starting next month, the two cricket boards said Friday, another step towards reviving international cricket in Pakistan after years of isolation.

In a joint statement, the cricket boards said the ODI series will begin on September 27 in Karachi where they will play the other two ODI matches on September 29 and October 2.

The Sri Lankans will then move to Lahore for three T20 matches starting on October 5 and the final match will be on October 9, with the second match scheduled for October 7.

This will be Sri Lanka’s second tour of Pakistan since their team bus was attacked by militants during a Test match in Lahore in March 2009. Eight years later, the Sri Lankans returned to Pakistan for a Twenty20 international in Lahore in October 2017.

The two boards said the teams were due to play two Test matches in October and follow it up with the six shorter form matches in December, but decided to swap them.