Indian U-19 cricket team to visit Pakistan

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**Indian U-19 cricket team to visit Pakistan **
KARACHI: India has agreed to send its Under-19 cricket team to Pakistan to play a four-nation event in September, after years of deadlock in bilateral sporting relations, a cricket board spokesman said on Saturday.

“The visit is a welcome sign and should be the stepping stone for restoration of cricketing ties between Pakistan and India at the senior level also,” Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official Samiul Hasan said.

“We will sit down and prepare the schedule of the event very soon,” he said, adding that Bangladesh and Sri Lanka had also confirmed their participation. “We have always been endeavouring to end the impasse and now feel optimistic that ties will be restored at full level.”

The Indian government banned bilateral cricket matches with Pakistan after the 2000 Asia Cup due to political tensions over their dispute on Kashmir, but allowed the teams to play in multi-nation events like the World Cup.

Officials of both countries met on the sidelines of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in London earlier this month and decided to resume cricketing activities at the junior level.

“A triangular tournament in Sri Lanka in August is also part of that discussion,” Hasan said.

Pakistan and India played in the semifinal of Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand in February last year while their senior teams clashed in a World Cup 2003 match in South Africa in March this year.

The Board for Control of Cricket in India is awaiting government clearance to allow the national side to play Pakistan in a two-match, one-day series in September this year and a full tour to Pakistan in February-March next year.

Pakistan ‘A’, a second-string team, is also due to visit India. India last toured Pakistan in 1997-98 for a three-match, one-day series while Pakistan last crossed the border in 1999-2000 despite threats from Hindu fundamentalists.

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**Officials happy with restoration of Indo-Pak ties **
NEW DELHI, India: Indian cricket officials have welcomed a restoration of India-Pakistan cricketing ties after its government allowed its junior team to tour Pakistan this year, ending a two-year ban with its sub-continental rival.

S K Nair, Secretary for the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), said on Saturday the Indian government’s permission to send its junior national team to compete in a four-nation tournament in Pakistan and then host the Pakistan ‘A’ team in a tri-series is a ‘very positive development.’

“We’re all hopeful this development will lead to exchange of test tours between India and Pakistan,” Nair said.

The cricket board said Friday the sports ministry had permitted it to field a team in three multilateral events featuring Pakistan.

“The clearance is for the India ‘A’ and junior teams to play in multination tournaments alongside Pakistan,” cricket board president Jagmohan Dalmiya said on Friday.

The first event will be a triangular series in Sri Lanka featuring junior teams from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka in August. The Indian under-19 team will then travel to Pakistan to participate in a four-nation tournament in September and October involving teams from Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

The Pakistan national team’s second-string team – Pakistan ‘A’ – will then visit India by playing in an tri-nations series in November and December that will also feature Sri Lanka.

This exchange of tours between India and Pakistan will come four years after Pakistan last toured India for a test series in 1999. Under the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test Championship program, India had been scheduled to travel for a Test series in Pakistan in April and May, but the Indian government refused permission for the tour, citing security risks.

After a recent thaw in the diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Indian cricket board renewed its proposal to play a series in Pakistan, but the government has not responded.** “This is a major development,” Nair said. "Cricketers in both countries need to make the best out of this opportunity.**

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Good thread, LM!

ACC to discuss soft opening of India-Pakistan cricket ties

KARACHI: The Asian Cricket Council (ACC) will discuss the soft opening of the resumption of ties between Pakistan and India and steps to win one-day status for United Arab Emirates and Nepal in its meeting next week, an official said Sunday.

“The ACC development staff meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 2 and 3 will discuss the soft opening of the resumption of ties between Pakistan and India already initiated at junior level,” ACC development officer Zakir Hussain Syed told this agency.

India Saturday took the first step towards restoring the ties, severed by New Delhi over political tension three years ago, by clearing an Indian Under-19 team tour to Pakistan for a four-nation tournament in September. “The idea of resuming the India-Pakistan ties at junior level was taken in the ACC meeting in London earlier this month and the coming meeting will further this plan,” said Syed, a former secretary of the ACC. “A” teams from Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka are also due to take part in a tripartite series in Sri Lanka in August and a Pakistan “A” team will tour India in November.

**“The resumption of ties, at junior level, is a good sign and it’s a matter of time that all cricket will be revived which will help the development of the game in the continent.” **

India last visited Pakistan in 1997-98 for a short three-match, one-day series but has not taken a full Test tour of Pakistan since 1989-90. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) also awaits government permission to allow its national team to play a series of one-day matches, one each in Pakistan and India, in September this year and for a three-match Test series next year.

The ACC meeting, to be chaired by chief executive Ashraful Haque of Bangladesh, will also discuss steps to help UAE and Nepal win the right to play one-day cricket. “UAE in particular and Nepal in general have developed their cricket and we will help them further to win one-day status from ICC (International Cricket Council),” Syed said.

Two officials of the Australian Cricket Board (ACB) will also attend the meeting and will brief the ACC development committee on how to set up academies and hold development courses. “The ACB has very kindly agreed to help Asian cricket through their experience and through their cooperation we will set up academies in countries like Hong Kong, Bahrain, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Singapore.” “A development officer’s tour to Afghanistan will also be finalised to help their cricket structure,” he said. ACC in its London meeting earlier this month granted affiliate membership to Afghanistan.

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Can anyone list the name of the pakistani U-19 players?

Can anyone list the names of the pakistani U-19 players?

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Shaid Afridi ofcourse !

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:hehe: :hehe:

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so are indian senior team also allowed to play with pak senior team???

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Re: Can anyone list the name of the pakistani U-19 players?

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by earthquake: *
Can anyone list the names of the pakistani U-19 players?
[/QUOTE]

Zalzala yaar..courtesy bhee koi cheez hotee hai...hain jee if u have requested w/ simple words like kindly, or please...i would have posted the list...ganday bachay go fetch yourself!

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Umair (ESPN sports) tumhary baray dant(teeth) nikal rahay hai..

Afridi is the best Pathan (akhroot) batsman is the world…this is my challenge…i dare u to name any other Pathan w/ so much talent

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There lies the crux of your argument. :k: Jera