Efforts on to revive cricket series with India: PCB official

But a senior Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official made it clear on Wednesday that "it’s still too early" to talk about having a Pakistan-India series this year.

Nadeem Sarwar, the PCB media chief, told IANS that his Board was keen to host India in a bilateral series or to send Pakistan’s team across the border. But he said that any serious progress is yet to be made over the issue.

“Efforts are underway to revive the bilateral series between Pakistan and India,” said Sarwar.

“Reviving the bilateral series between the two countries is an important issue and both the Boards are working on it,” he added.

Reacting to reports that Pakistan and India were planning to play a three-match One-day International series on a neutral venue later this year, Sarwar said that all such reports were speculative.

Pakistan and India have not met in a bilateral series since 2007 when Pakistan toured India for a full series under the captaincy of Shoaib Malik. India were scheduled to tour Pakistan during the 2008-09 season but the series was scrapped in the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attack.

The PCB suffered losses worth millions of dollars because of the cancellation of the money-spinning series.