 The PCB chief, Ijaz Butt will look to ensure a fruitful partnership with
the BCCI as he will meet the Indian board officials in Sri Lanka. The Asian Cricket
Council will meet in Sri Lanka and all the four cricket boards, India, Pakistan
Sri Lanka and Bangladesh will be represented.
Butt will look to take up the issue of having more bilateral series between
the two nations, India and Pakistan. Frosty and troubled relations between
the two countries due to the 26/11 attack on Mumbai in 2008 had ended the thaw
in the relations between the two countries.
Butt, who is the president of the Asian Cricket Council will try and have a
talk with the BCCI officials after the meeting. Butt said, "I'll be speaking
to the BCCI officials to convince them to revive Pakistan-India cricket series,"
Butt also added that the cricketing relationship between the two countries
was vital for the development of the sport and has said that it will be his
main priority.
The Pakistan side that gets selected for the tour of England, where they play
Australia and England, will also be seen by Butt. To select the side, the chief
of selectors, Mohsin Khan will join Butt in Sri Lanka and after consulting
with the captain and the coach, will select the side on Sunday.
Talking to the media Butt said that it was a great loss to cricket in general
that India and Pakistan cannot play cricket any more. He said, "It is unfortunate
that we are not playing more often against each other because people in the
subcontinent and in many parts of the world want to cricket action between the
two teams,"
He also added that the India-Pakistan rivalry was a treat to watch for the
entire world. There has been a proposal mooted by the PCB to hold bilateral
games between the two countries at neutral venues if the country of Pakistan
is said to be unsafe to tour.
Butt will also raise the topic of having one of their club sides play in the
Champions League T20 next year. This year, Butt had proclaimed that none of
the Pakistan sides will play in the CLT20 after the players had got a
snub from the IPL. However, he later retracted the statement and said that he
had made no such statements.
The other issue on Butt's agenda will be to ensure that the teams start touring
Pakistan.
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