Sri Lanka step into the breach

Sri Lanka will take the place of India by touring Pakistan next month for a three-Test series

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Sri Lanka will tour Pakistan next month, the Pakistan Cricket Board has confirmed.

The PCB invited Sri Lanka after India refused to travel to Pakistan for the scheduled tour, a fall-out of the terror attacks in Mumbai last month.

India were to play three Tests, five one-day matches and a Twenty20 international in a tour starting with the first Test in Karachi on January 13.

But Sri Lanka, who are currently in Bangladesh for two Tests and a triangular one-day series also involving Zimbabwe, will play three Tests, three one-dayers and a Twenty20 game in Pakistan.

Sri Lanka can only arrive in Pakistan after January 16 when the triangular series ends in Bangladesh.

"Sri Lanka have agreed to tour Pakistan," PCB chief operating officer Saleem Altaf confirmed. "We are working on the dates and other details.

"Sri Lanka will travel to Pakistan straight from Bangladesh where their tour ends in the third week of January.”

According to the proposed itinerary, Sri Lanka are due to arrive in Karachi on January 19 and play the Twenty20 game and the first ODI there.

They will then travel to Lahore to contest two back-to-back one-dayers and the first Test.

The second Test would be held in Multan and Sri Lanka are set to return to Karachi for the final Test before flying home.

The PCB will also hold a meeting to review the participation of Pakistani players in the two Twenty20 competitions in India.

Several Pakistani players, including Younus Khan, Shoaib Akhtar, Sohail Tanvir and Shahid Afridi, play in the Indian Premier League.

Many former players such as Zaheer Abbas, Imran Khan and Rashid Latif have urged the PCB to cut cricketing ties with India.

"This (players' participation in Indian leagues) is something we need to look at because of the existing relations between the two countries," Altaf said. "We will make a few policy decisions on this soon.”