PCB wants SLC to share financial costs if they want to play Test series in UAE

Despite hosting a successful limited-overs tour against Sri Lanka at home, Pakistan is not yet certain whether the Islanders team is going to come back in December to play the two-Test series back in the country. The Men in Green had defeated Lankans in the ODI series played in Karachi, while were whitewashed in the T20I series that followed in Lahore.

However, the Sri Lankan team was without ten of their top tier players including the likes of Lasith Malinga, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Dimuth Karunaratne being some big names. Though the Islanders fared better despite the absence of these players, the Test series is a different thing altogether with ICC Test Championship points on the line, something the team doesn’t want to compromise on by playing in Pakistan without top players.

The only remaining solution seems that the two sides battle in the whites in UAE, but with Pakistan pushing Lanka to come to Pakistan in order to bring Test cricket back in the country after a decade, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is standing its ground. This policy is backed by Pakistan’s PM Imran Khan, who wants the board to take a strong stance on teams refusing to play in Pakistan.

PCB asks Sri Lanka to share expenses if Test series is played in UAE

Now the PCB is not willing to bear the whole expenses of playing Sri Lanka in the Test series in UAE alone and has asked the SLC to share the burden with them, or come and play in Pakistan, “PCB Chairman, Ehsan Mani, and CEO, Wasim Khan who is in Dubai for the ICC board meetings have apparently conveyed to Sri Lankan officials that if they (SL) insist on playing the test series in UAE, they should bear the expenses,” a reliable source was quoted as saying by Outlook India.

Pakistan board was extremely saddened with SLC Chief’s statement that the players and he himself were not happy with the security arrangements put together for them, as it restricted their movements. They couldn’t go anywhere on their own and he mentioned that the board would consult its players and team officials before making a final decision based on their willingness to travel to Pakistan or not.

“The PCB has decided to take a stance that even after convincing the ICC and Sri Lankan board officials that they can properly manage all security arrangements in Pakistan, if the Sri Lankan board still insists on having the series in UAE it will have to pay or share the expenses of hosting the series,” the source said.

[interaction id=”5da47f937bf76b6c51bf6b76″]