PCB to bid for T20 World Cup

Hoping that the security situation in Pakistan will improve over the next five years, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is planning to bid for the hosting rights of the 2014 Twenty20 World Championships.

"Hopefully by that time the conditions to host international events would be ideal in our country," PCB chief Ejaz Butt was quoted as saying by The Dawn newspaper on Monday.

Pakistan had lost the right to host the Champions Trophy last year due to security concerns of foreign teams. The tournament was postponed by 12 months and moved to South Africa.

The nation was also stripped of the co-hosting rights of the 2011 World Cup following a terror attack on the Sri Lanka team earlier this year.

The PCB has been trying to revive the confidence of other countries since then, but every effort of has so far gone in vain. The PCB was left with no option but to use neutral venues to stage their international matches.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai, which hosted Pakistan's matches against Australia earlier this year, will again be used for three One-day Internationals and two Twenty20 games against New Zealand in November.

The PCB has also asked the ICC to organise more Test series between Pakistan and India in the next Future Tours Programme (FTP).

Butt said he expected the arch-rivals to meet four times over the next eight years with Pakistan given an option to organise the series at a neutral venue.

"The ICC has given guarantee for the series that would be organised after every two years," Butt said. "They also accepted the series could be organised at a neutral venue until the time the (security) situation improves in Pakistan."