Pakistan Cricket Board calls off plans to host Afghanistan

A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman said the cricket board was in negotiations with officials of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, “but now the tour is called off due to overall security situation in the country.”

Afghan cricket fans welcome Afghanistan's national cricket team, after their Twenty20 world cup tournament, in Kabul,  REUTERS/Omar Sobhani
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ISLAMABAD – Pakistan has called off its plans to host the Afghanistan cricket team in April following last Sunday’s suicide bombing in the eastern city of Lahore which killed 70 people.

A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman Amjad Bhatti told The Associated Press on Thursday the cricket board was in negotiations with officials of the Afghanistan Cricket Board, “but now the tour is called off due to overall security situation in the country.”

The PCB was planning to host Afghanistan for three one-day internationals in Lahore and Karachi and also a four-day game against Pakistan A.

No major foreign test-playing nation has toured Pakistan since terrorists attacked the Sri Lanka cricket team bus in Lahore in 2009. Last year, Zimbabwe played a short one-day series in Lahore.

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