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The suspense over this monthís home series against Zimbabwe ended on Sunday when the countryís cricket chief insisted that his team will tour Pakistan despite security concerns.

In a statement that was welcomed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka said that his team would travel to Pakistan on January 11 to play five one-dayers and a warm-up game.

“We are definitely going ahead with the tour,” said Chingoka. “Zimbabwe Cricket has an obligation to fulfill its obligations under the Future Tours programme.” Zimbabweís tour was in doubt following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27.

However, PCB officials have been insisting that Pakistan is safe for touring cricketers and that the tour will go ahead as scheduled. Reacting to Chingokaís statement, his Pakistani counterpart said that Zimbabwe have taken the right decision.

“It is a positive step and we can now look forward to a good series against Zimbabwe,” Dr Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman, told ‘The News’ on Sunday. He stressed that other cricketing nations should follow suit.

“We believe that Pakistan is fit to host visiting teams and should not be deprived of international cricket,” he said. Without naming Australia, Ashraf said that touring teams should leave their security arrangements in the hands of Pakistan.

“Though we believe, sportsmen are not a target (here), fool-proof security arrangements will be in place for any visiting team like Zimbabwe during their tour of Pakistan,” he said. The confirmation of the Zimbabwe tour should come as a big relief for the PCB which has been quite uncertain of its home season especially after a series of media reports suggested that the Australians are all set to cancel their tour of Pakistan scheduled for March and April.

The Australians are scheduled to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 International. But a huge question mark hangs over the fate of their tour as already several of the Aussie cricketers have expressed their concerns over touring Pakistan.

All-rounder Andrew Symonds was the first to openly express his fears when he said that he doesn’t want to go to Pakistan because of security concerns. Later, Australian captain Ricky Ponting suggested that the series against Pakistan could be moved to a neutral venue to save it from cancellation. But PCB officials have ruled out the option of a neutral venue saying that they want Australia to come and play in Pakistan.

Meanwhile, the PCB has revised the itinerary of the Zimbabwe tour and now the first match of the one-day series will be played in Karachi instead of Hyderabad. According to the revised schedle which will be officially released by the PCB today, the opening match of the series will be played here at the National Stadium on January 21. Earlier, the series opener was to be staged by Hyderabad on January 26. Hyderabad will host the second one-dayer on January 24. The remaining three matches will be played in Multan, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura.

Source:Cricket News