Pakistan Board seeks bilateral tours, India finds no time

MOHALI - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ijaz Butt met Indian cricket board president Shashank Manohar here Monday and requested for the resumption of bilateral ties between the two neighbours.

Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) spokesman Rajiv Shukla told reporters here Monday that Manohar explained to Butt that there was little possibility of a bilateral series between the two countries in the next seven-eight months due to India’s packed international calendar.

Butt was told that after the ODI series against Australia, India play a full series against Sri Lanka followed by the World Twenty20 in West Indies.

“The two countries will explore the possibility of a bilateral series next season,” said Shukla.

The BCCI president also said the talks would be held, keeping in mind the diplomatic relationship between the two countries.

The BCCI refused to send a team to tour Pakistan earlier this year due to tension between the two countries in the wake of November 26 terrorist attack in Mumbai that claimed 170 lives.

The PCB chairman, according to Shukla, told the Indian board cheif that bilateral ties between the two countries are important for cricket.

The latest Future Tour Programme (FTP), drafted by the International Cricket Council (ICC), has no space for a India-Pakistan series till 2012.