Pakistan Cricket Board has announced that the Sri Lankan cricket team will play its first day and night Test match against Pakistan later this month. The team will meet Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates for a two Test match series.
The Series
The series shall start on September 28 and will end on October 10 including a floodlit day and night Test match.
According to a board official, Sri Lanka will also play matches in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. The matches will include five One Day Internationals and two Twenty20 matches.
A Twenty20 match is also scheduled for Lahore after security clearance and conditions are met. PCB Chairman, Najam Sethi, had previously miscommunicated the deal with Sri Lankan Cricket Board claiming that the team will play a series in Pakistan.
The official confirmed that the Test match to be played in the UAE would be Sri Lanka’s first match with the pink ball used in day-and-night Tests.
“The exact itinerary will be released shortly,” the official informed.
The Attack Of 2009
After the attack in 2009 that left eight people dead, Pakistan faced a ban on hosting international games.
Since the attack on the Sri Lankan in Lahore, leading cricket nations abandoned playing in Pakistan. 8 years after the deadly militant attack, the Sri Lankan cricket board approved a tour of Pakistan for its team if teh World XI tour finishes successfully.
The only team to have played in Pakistan since 2009 is Zimbabwe, which played five limited-overs games in Lahore in 2015.
Sri Lanka Cricket Chief, Thilanga Sumathipala, called for an end to Pakistan’s isolation and urged countries to play there in his address in Asian Cricket Council in Colombo last month.
