Pakistan bank on series with India, England next year

Desperately looking to boost its finances, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is counting on back-to-back "home" series against England and India next year in the UAE.
"We will be hosting England in October and November in UAE for three tests, five one-day internationals and a T20 match," a board official told PTI on Wednesday.
"After England we will host India for two Tests, five one-day internationals and two T20 matches at the same venue and this series will last till late December," he said.
The official said while the series against England was 100 percent confirmed the series against India would be subject to clearance from the governments.

"The positive thing is that both boards have pencilled in this series in their schedules and it is also part of the future tours program but like always the boards require government clearance for the bilateral series," he added.
Pakistan and India have not played a bilateral Test series since 2007 because of bad relations between the two governments after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008.

But in recent times there has been a thaw in relations with India inviting Pakistan's domestic T20 champions for the last three editions of the Champions League T20 while both countries also played a short one-day series in the winter of 2012 in India.

"Obviously both the series are very important for us because England and India are top draw teams as far as television and sponsorships are concerned and we are counting on them to boost our financial position strongly," the PCB official stated.
He said England would be playing in the UAE as part of an agreement between the PCB and ECB under which Pakistan will host England for two back to back series while from 2016 onward the ECB will host Pakistan for two back-to-back series.
No Test team has toured Pakistan since 2009 after militants attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore in March, 2009.

England also refused to tour Pakistan in early 2012 and played in the UAE where it was whitewashed in the three test series.
The official confirmed that after the 2015 World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, Pakistan would tour Bangladesh for a two Test and ODI series from April onwards while in July-August it would be touring Sri Lanka again.
"The tour to Sri Lanka is part of the FTP and we play three Tests, 5 ODIs and T20 matches there," he added.