Pakistan will end a ten-year drought in Test Cricket, and the national team will finish in 2019 with a domestic series with two tests against Sri Lanka.
A release from the Pakistan Cricket Board on Thursday, November 14, announced that the two games will be held at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium and Karachi National Stadium, scheduled for December 11 and 19, respectively.
The tour is a result of the successful White Ball series that the two teams played in Pakistan from September to October. Sri Lanka visited three ODIs and as many T20Is, and while Pakistan prevailed 2-0 at the ODIs, Sri Lanka prevailed with a second division against No. 1 in the world.
Test cricket returns to Pakistan after 10 years!
— ICC (@ICC) November 14, 2019
Sri Lanka will play two #WTC21 matches there next month. pic.twitter.com/G8xQgoyQVt
Originally, this series of Limited Overs games were scheduled to take place in December while tests were scheduled for October. However, the two tasks were reversed after Sri Lanka Cricket expressed its desire to use the bilateral restrictions as an opportunity to assess the security situation for the test series. After being satisfied with the arrangements during the White Ball Tour, they gave the go-ahead for the tests.
“This is a fabulous message for Pakistan Cricket and its reputation for being as safe and secure as any other country in the world,” said Zakir Khan, head of PCB – International Cricket. “We thank Sri Lanka Cricket for agreeing to send their team for the longer version of the game. This will make a significant contribution to the efforts of the PCB and to the regular resumption of international cricket and help to attract new and younger viewers generation.
“After the itinerary has been confirmed, we will focus more on preparing the series to ensure that the arrangements meet our high standards. This series is part of our cricket celebrations and we will do our utmost to hold a show that will be memorable for players, officials, fans and the media. “
It was a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009 when Pakistan last hosted a friendly that marked the beginning of the international cricket drought in Pakistan. But while other teams have visited these shores, even sporadically, since then, for orders with limited exceedances, no team has ever attended a series of tests since that incident.
“We are pleased to confirm our return visit to Pakistan as we feel comfortable with our previous visit and are confident that the conditions for test cricket are reasonable and favorable,” said Ashley de Silva, SLC Chief Executive.
“We also believe that all cricket-gambling countries should host international cricket events at home, and in this regard we are pleased to be contributing to the full resumption of international cricket in Pakistan, which not only has a proud history, but one of our greatest advocates In Pakistan, our early days were as a cricket nation.
Pakistan to play Sri Lanka Tests in front of home crowds
— PCB Media (@TheRealPCBMedia) November 14, 2019
More: https://t.co/SpV2LMbhGL #PAKvSL pic.twitter.com/l8Lk7abNot
“We have drawn our opening series of the World Test Championship against New Zealand, and I expect these two tests will be exciting and competitive as in the past, and fans will enjoy the quality of the cricket presented.”