The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) officially announced on Thursday venues for the forthcoming Pakistan series, bowling one potential googly. The BCCI’s Tour, Programmes and Fixtures committee, which met here today, said Mohali, Ahmedabad and Bangalore would host the Tests while the five ODIs — all day matches, due to security concerns — will be played at Kochi, Vishakhapatnam, Kanpur, Jamshedpur and Delhi. The Pakistan team will land in India on February 25 and will begin with a three-day match against Board President’s XI at Dharamshala. They will also play a practice match between the Tests and ODIs. The selection of Ahmedabad as a Test venue, however, could develop into a contentious issue in the context of the riots three years ago. Both the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the BCCI — while making the announcement —maintained that there was ‘no demand’ from either side on the venues (Ahmedabad included). PCB’s Director (Media) Abbas Zaidi when contacted by The Indian Express, said ‘‘everything will be clear’’ after a Pakistani security team completes a recce. The itinerary though has yet to be officially intimated to the PCB, said Zaidi. The Venue Assessment Team consisting of PCB GM Cricket Operations Zakir Khan and Pakistan Government’s SSP Sohail Ahmed Khan will land in Delhi on January 25. ‘‘It is too early to presume anything. Let the (Venue Assessment) team go to India and look at the venues. Only after they finish this (the team returns on January 29) will we be in a position to say anything,’’ said Zaidi. In the same vein Zaidi said that ‘in PCB’s view’ the choice of venues is always the prerogative of the host board.
