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BCCI hope Pak will play in Ahmedabad
India's cricket board are hopeful of persuading Pakistan to play a Test at the Ahmedabad during upcoming Indo-Pak series.
India's cricket board are hopeful of persuading Pakistan to play a Test at the controversial venue of Ahmedabad during their tour starting next week.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will meet on Thursday to finalise the tour venues.
"We feel they will eventually agree to play in Ahmedabad. Their recent responses have been positive, soft," a senior board official, who did not wish to be identified, told Reuters.
The Pakistan team, who have not played a Test series in India for six years owing to political tensions, arrive on February 25 to play three Tests and five one-dayers.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) have security concerns over playing in Ahmedabad, a volatile city in the western state of Gujarat which was rocked by India's worst communal riots for a decade in 2002.
Indian foreign minister Natwar Singh, visiting Pakistan to push a peace process between the two nations, is expected to help resolve the issue.
The Indian board last month proposed Mohali and Bangalore for the other two Tests. The one-dayers are set for Kochi, Visakhapatnam, Delhi, Jamshedpur and Kanpur.
Some Hindu hardline parties opposed to the tour have called for the series to be cancelled if Pakistan refuse to play in Ahmedabad.
Security has been tightened at all proposed venues after activists from the hardline Shiv Sena party last week attempted to damage the pitch in Mohali, in the northern state of Punjab bordering Pakistan.
