Sri Lanka have no plans to visit Pakistan

Country’s sports minister reveals only army, youth teams being considered for tour

KARACHI: The Ministry of Sports in Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) on Wednesday rejected reports that they are in talks with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to send the Sri Lankan national side to Pakistan for a bilateral series, saying that no such plans have been discussed.

Najam Sethi, who heads the PCB’s executive committee, recently indicated that the board was close to finalising a deal for hosting a ‘major Test-playing nation’ for the first time since the terror attacks in 2009.



Later, reports surfaced that the Pakistan board was in talks with the Sri Lanka and West Indies cricket boards to host a series next year, following the conclusion of the second edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in March.

However, Sri Lankan sports minister Jayasekara Dayasiri said there were no plans of sending the national team to Pakistan next year.

“We have received a request from the Pakistan High Commissioner to send the Sri Lankan army team,” Dayasiri told The Express Tribune. “We are considering sending the army as well as the youth teams to Pakistan though nothing has been finalised as yet. We have no plans to send our national cricket team.”

SLC keen to help Pakistan: secretary

SLC Secretary Mohan de Silva, while confirming that there are no plans whatsoever to send the national team to Pakistan, insisted that the SLC is ‘keen to help Pakistan in any way possible’.



“There are no plans [to send the national side to Pakistan] but SLC is keen to help the PCB in their mission to bring back international cricket to Pakistan,” De Silva told The Express Tribune.

“We have been receiving requests from top PCB officials to send the national team to Pakistan and our President [Thilanga Sumathipala] is keen to make that happen,” he said. “We are looking for ways to make sure we help the PCB in any way possible. The army and youth teams touring Pakistan can be a positive start.”

He further added, “The SLC hopes that Pakistan will again become a venue for top Test playing nations to visit without any issues.”