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Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar (centre) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Pakistan batsman Shahid Afridi during the ICC World Twenty20 tournament cricket match between India and Pakistan at the Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium in Dhaka on March 21, 2014. (AFP)
Hot on the heels of UAE staging the first leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) next month, Dubai could be the venue of a cracker jack bilateral series between South Asian giants India and Pakistan.
“With India now deciding to host IPL matches in the UAE it is a good sign for us as we can also play India at these venues if they don’t want to tour Pakistan,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi told reporters in Dhaka on Sunday.
Sethi is in Dhaka to not only watch the World T20 matches but also meet with other board officials including from India, Dawn.com reported.
Sethi was upbeat that Pakistan and India could play a short bilateral series after the seventh edition of IPL this summer.
The UAE leg of IPL7, starting from April 16, will conclude on April 30 with the final to be held on June 1 in India.
Pakistan are not scheduled to play any international cricket after the ongoing World T20 until October this year after which they will play home series against Australia, New Zealand and Zimbabwe in the UAE from October to January.
Pakistan will host Australia in a month-long series that will be contested in the UAE from October 3.
Sethi said there were windows available for a series with India.
UAE is also the favoured venue for a Super League T20 as the PCB looks at ways to improve their financial health.
PCB had suffered loss of annual earnings of around $10 million due to the refusal of teams to play in Pakistan since 2009, the PCB chief had disclosed to Dawn.com.
“We are working fast track on having the Super League T20 soon even if we have to organise it in the UAE because this is one way of improving our financial health,” Sethi added.
“Given the current situation it looks like we will have to hold the Super League in the UAE and we would like to have the semi-finals and final at Lahore,” he added.
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