PCB hopes to get South Africa on board to tour Pakistan within 12 months

After the Pakistan Cricket Board urged Sri Lanka Cricket to play a two-match Test series in Pakistan as a part of the ICC Test Championship, which is scheduled for later this year, a report on Cricinfo stated that, PCB managing director Wasim Khan recently extended an invitation to CSA to tour Pakistan within the next 12 months. 

Although it has not been declared that which format in which the tour could take place, in the current circumstances, Pakistan would accept any amount of cricket or even a part tour to restore international cricket in the country. South Africa, however, have not yet committed to the tour.

As a matter of fact, Pakistan has hosted little international cricket ever since the terror attacks of March 2009. Their recent efforts translated to Zimbabwe playing T20I and ODI cricket in the country in May 2015, the World XI playing three T20Is in September 2017 and Sri Lanka playing a one-off T20I in October 2017 before West Indies played four T20Is in April 2018 in Karachi. 

However, the good thing for Pakistan cricket is that the country is hosting more PSL games in Pakistan and the board hopes that the prospect of playing there is becoming normalised, which may give confidence to the other international teams.

Two days ago, PCB extended an invitation to the Sri Lankan cricket officials to access the security situation while adding that the Pakistani officials were now waiting for their Sri Lankan counterparts to confirm the date of their arrival in the country. If the proposed tour with Sri Lanka sees the light of the day, it will also ensure that Pakistan will host their first Test match on their home soil after that fateful Lahore day.