PCB chief Shaharyar Khan invites ICC president Shashank Manohar to Lahore

Will he accept the invite?

What’s the story?

Shaharyar Khan, the outgoing chief of Pakistan Cricket Board has extended an invite to the ICC Chairman Shashank Manohar to visit Lahore in the month of August.

“Manohar said he will look into the invitation and try to make it. But nothing is confirmed yet,” Khan was as quoted by the PTI.

The PCB chief also confirmed that he had invited Manohar at the sidelines of the ICC meeting in London last month.

The Details

 According to sources, this invitation has been extended as the PCB wants the ICC to be on the same page before the proposed World XI series in Pakistan sees the light of the day. 

The ICC has already thrown its support behind the series and Khan now wants Manohar to personally come to the country to gauge the security arrangements and several other facets which could be needed before the series. 

Also, Khan wants Manohar, who is also the former BCCI president to be present at his farewell speech in Lahore next month. 

Najam Sethi, who is most likely to succeed Khan said that they are very excited about the World XI series since it could pave way for future International tours to Pakistan and hence they have extended an invitation to Shashank Manohar. 

In case you didn’t know...

In a huge development towards the resumption of International cricket in Pakistan, the International Cricket Council announced that it wanted to send a World XI to Pakistan later this year. 

Ever since the terror attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team back in 2009, there have been no International series in Pakistan save a short series against Zimbabwe. 

The ICC board said that it would accord the full T20 status to the 3-T20 match series which would be played at Lahore.

What's next?

It would be interesting to see the response of Shashank Manohar to the invite and if he does indeed go to Pakistan it would be a huge shot in the arm for PCB which is trying its level best to bring back International cricket to Pakistan.

Author's Take

Pakistan cricket has suffered over the past 8 years owing to lack of International matches and hence any efforts to revive cricket in the country should be backed by all concerned.

However, having said that the ICC and all the member nations should tread the path with caution as the nation is still grappling with the scourge of terrorism and the safety of players and officials should be paramount at all times.