A short India-Pakistan series likely in December-January A small window is being created to squeeze in a few ODIs during the Christmas-New Year period when the touring England side is slated to take a break

A short India-Pakistan series likely in December-January

A small window is being created to squeeze in a few ODIs during the Christmas-New Year period when the touring England side is slated to take a break

The ice seems to be melting fast between India and Pakistan, at least on the cricketing front. There could soon be bilateral cricket between the countries. A small window is being created to squeeze in a few limited-overs matches between this Christmas and New Year period. Needless to emphasise, the matches will be played in India. The officials of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), who conducted a series of meetings in Chennai recently, have found a vacant slot for an otherwise busy Indian team between December 23 and January 10. The teams may play three limited-overs matches, or a couple of ODIs and a Twenty20 match. The window for the series comes between the Twenty20 and ODI series between India and England. During this period, England, slated to tour India this winter, will have returned home for a short Christmas-New Year break. The Poms go back on December 21 and return on January 3. But they are not slated to play an international till January 11 when the first ODI is scheduled. In between, they have a couple of warm-up matches. This vacant slot has been zeroed in by the BCCI managers. The Pakistan team will be free during December. They have an away series against Zimbabwe in January but the dates for that series, it seems, can be adjusted. The BCCI and PCB officials, who held talks on the sidelines of the IPL final in Chennai over the weekend, are believed to have realised the need to restore bilateral ties between the neighbours. Should the short tour materialise, the counties will have played a bilateral match for the first time in close to five years. “There’s a distinct possibility that we could have a few matches in December-January,” said a top BCCI official in the know of things. Similar was the response of Subhan Ahmed, PCB CEO, who was also in Chennai. “The Indian team is very busy, but we’re trying to slot in a few matches late this year,” the PCB official told reporters on arrival in Pakistan. The development comes close on the heels of the BCCI’s decision to invite a Pakistan domestic team to participate in the Champions League Twenty20 tournament this October. The restoration of bilateral ties is, of course, subject to clearance by the government, especially India’s. The Pakistan government, in any case, has been demanding restoration of India-Pakistan ties. Pakistan last toured India in December 2007; and India were to reciprocate with a return tour in January 2009. But the cricketing ties took a hit after the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. In between, there have been sporadic matches between the countries but all of them have been either ICC or ACC events.