Pakistan, India and Australia tri-series a difficult proposition, says Salim

Staff Report

LAHORE: Salim Altaf, PCB director cricket operations, has said that it will be difficult to organise a tri-angular series involving Pakistan, India and Australia because of tight schedule of the Pakistan cricket team. Talking to Daily Times at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Tuesday, Salim said Pakistan team would return home from England tour in the last week of September and then they would participate in the Champions Trophy in the first week of October. “There will be very little time between the England series and Champions Trophy and for this very reason the plan to hold a tri-series is not feasible,” he added.

It is pertinent to mention that PCB chairman Shahryar Mohammad Khan last week said that Pakistan, India and Australia had agreed in principle to host a triangular one-day series this year in September before the Champions Trophy in India.

Salim, who played Test cricket for Pakistan in 70’s, said the pitch for the Faisalabad Test would be different from the Lahore track. “We have sent our chief curator Agha Zahid to Faisalabad to look after the pitch preparations there,” he said. The PCB official was hopeful that fast bowler Shabbir Ahmad’s appeal would be decided on merit by the ICC bowling review committee. “We have seen Shabbir’s bowling video prepared under the supervision of former Test fast bowler Sarfaraz Nawaz. The tolerance level looks to come down in that video,” he said. Salim said he would try to convince the bowling review committee in the light of the video prepared by the PCB. He dismissed the claim that Shabbir was put into the international cricket a bit earlier after his action was reported in the West Indies.

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