Lahore, Karachi to host Sri Lanka limited-overs series

Sri Lanka will play a total of six games in Pakistan © AFP

Pakistan is all set to welcome the Sri Lankan cricket team back on their soil after a mutual agreement between the two boards to swap the limited-overs leg of the series with the scheduled World Championship Tests that were originally slated for October.

Sri Lanka will now play three ODIs in Karachi followed by as many T20Is in Lahore - from 27 September to 9 October - before flying back. The Tests will now be played in December.

According to the formulated programme in the FTP, Pakistan was scheduled to host Sri Lanka for two World Test Championship matches in October before Sri Lanka returned for the limited-overs series in late December. The call to swap the two was done following a "phone discussion between PCB Chairman Ehsan Mani and SLC President Shammi Silva on Friday (August 23)," a release from PCB stated.

"The PCB is pleased with the outcome of its discussions with Sri Lanka Cricket, which has supported Pakistan in its efforts and endeavours for the complete revival of international cricket. The tour for limited overs matches will also provide Sri Lanka with an even better understanding of the ground situation before discussing schedule of the Tests," Mani was quoted as saying in the statement from the board.

Pakistan hosted international series on their soil for the first time since 2009 when a Faf du Plessis-led ICC World XI played a three-match T20I series in Lahore in September 2017. Since then, even Karachi has been used to host Pakistan Super League games. As such, both venues will split the six upcoming games.

"The hosting of the ICC World XI, a T20I against Sri Lanka, three-T20I series men's and women's series against the West Indies and eight Pakistan Super League 2019 matches within the past couple of years is a testament to Pakistan's claim that it is a safe and secure country to play cricket. We are very grateful to Sri Lanka Cricket President Mr Shammi Silva, his board and players for responding positively to our request to play matches in Pakistan," Mani added.

"The SLC security experts had visited the two cities earlier this month and had given a positive report, which made our job of decision-making easy," Silva said. "The safety and security of its players is the responsibility of the SLC, which it takes very seriously. If there had been any doubts, the SLC would not have gone ahead with this arrangement that we envisage will improve the players' confidence and trust level and will also be critical when we start discussions on the schedule of the Test matches."

The Sri Lanka cricket team will arrive in Karachi on September 25 and fly back home from Lahore on October 10.

Series schedule:

27 Sep - 1st ODI, Karachi

29 Sep - 2nd ODI, Karachi

2 Oct - 3rd ODI, Karachi

5 Oct - 1st T20I, Lahore

7 Oct - 2nd T20I, Lahore

9 Oct - 3rd T20I, Lahore