PCB announces schedule of Australia’s tour of Pakistan

LAHORE, Nov 08 (SABAH): The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has unveiled schedule of Australia’s tour of Pakistan, due in March-April next year.  

Tim Paine’s Australian side is scheduled to visit Pakistan and take on the Men in Green for three Test matches, an equal number ODIs and one T20 match next year. 

The first Test match between the two sides will be played from March 3 in Karachi while the second Test will be played from March 12-16 in Rawalpindi. 

The teams will then play a third Test match in March 21-25 in Lahore. 

The Tests will be played as part of the ICC World Test Championship, while the ODIs will be connected to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League – a 13-team event from which the seven highest-placed sides and the hosts, India, will qualify directly for the event proper in 2023.

All four white-ball matches of the series will take place in Lahore from March 29 to April 5, confirmed the PCB. 

This will be the first time that an Australian side will be visiting Pakistan to play a cricket series here after 24 years. 

The last time an Australian squad played a series in Pakistan was in 1998 when Mark Taylor led them to a 1-0 series victory – their first since Richie Benaud’s side defeated Fazal Mahmood’s team by 2-0 in the 1959-60 series. Between the two series, Pakistan hosted Australia in 1964-65 (drew 0-0), 1979-80 (won 1-0), 1982-83 (won 3-0), 1988-89 (won 1-0) and 1994-95 (won 1-0).

Pakistan staged the last four series with Australia offshore – 2002-2003 (Colombo and Sharjah, Pakistan lost 3-0), 2010 (drew 1-1 in England), 2014-15 (won 2-0 in the UAE) and 2018-19 (won 1-0 in the UAE).