We won't beg India to play with us but hope to resume bilateral ties, says PCB chief

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Ehsan Mani has said that they will not beg India to play cricket with them but will look forward to resuming bilateral cricket ties in a dignified manner.

The former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) told Dawn, "We will not beg India or any other country to play cricket with us. We want resumption of bilateral cricket ties with India in a decent and dignified manner."

Mani confirmed that the Pakistan women's team will go to India and play the ICC Women Championship in November. After assessing the situation in November, they will get a clear idea about when the bilateral cricket ties between the two rivals could be resumed.

He also mentioned the plans of PCB to resume international cricket in Pakistan. As of now, Sri Lanka are slated to play two Test matches in what would be a part of the ICC Test Championship which will be spread over two years, concluding in 2021.

"We will host the Sri Lankan team for two Test matches of this inaugural edition of the event in September. Then our team will be flying to Australia in October-November for Test championship," he said.

The Sri Lankan team will then play a bilateral series in Pakistan in December which will feature three ODIs and three T20Is.

He further added that they are trying to persuade the foreign teams to visit Pakistan and mentioned that the security situation in Pakistan has improved a lot.

He said, "We want to see our cricket arenas having international cricket activities on a regular basis, the way it used to be in the past and we are speeding up our efforts and contacts with cricket playing nations. Now things have improved a lot as far as the security situation is concerned."

India and Pakistan have not played any bilateral series since January 2013. Both the teams have, however, met several times in the multilateral events.

The Men in Blue are slated to face Pakistan in a much awaited ICC Cricket World Cup fixture at Old Trafford, Manchester on June 16. Both the teams are geared up for the match while India having an upper hand with back to back wins in the last two matches of the tournament whereas Pakistan have won just one match out of their four fixtures in the tournament. But, past results do not matter on the day of an Indo-Pak clash.