Najam Sethi: “Yes, I think bilateral Test matches can be played in Australia, England, South Africa”
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Najam Sethi, the former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman, believes England, Australia and South Africa are three perfect neutral venues that could host a bilateral Test series between India and Pakistan.
The two sides have not played a bilateral series since they faced each other in two T20Is and three ODIs in India from December 2012 to January 2013.
Since then, the two arch-rivals have only clashed at major cricket events like the 50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup and Asia Cup.
Despite this, Sethi feels that if the two sides were to agree to play a Test series, England would be the best place to hold it, while Australia would be the second option.
“Yes, I think bilateral Test matches can be played in Australia, England, South Africa,” he was quoted as saying by Cricket Pakistan. “But I think the best bet would be England and, following that, Australia. If you can get a house full in any of the Australian stadiums, fine, that would be great.”
India and Pakistan are now scheduled to face each other in the Asia Cup on September 2 in Kandy and in the ICC Cricket World Cup on October 14 in Ahmedabad.
The Pakistan team recently travelled to Sri Lanka to play a two-Test series, which they won 2-0.
They will now play a three-match ODI series against Afghanistan, which will be held in Sri Lanka from August 22 to 26.
After that, the men in green will be involved in the Asia Cup, which will be played in Pakistan and Sri Lanka from August 30 to September 17.
Pakistan Squad for Afghanistan ODI Series and 2023 Asia Cup:Â Babar Azam (capt), Shadab Khan, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel (Afghanistan series only), Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Tayyab Tahir, Mohammad Haris (wk), Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr