Sri Lanka encouraged by Zimbabwe's successful tour of Pakist

Sri Lanka Cricket have been encouraged after Zimbabwe's tour of Pakistan and believe that it will help more teams tour the country. Zimbabwe were the first Test team to tour Pakistan in six years after a terror attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in 2009. There was an incident during the 2nd ODI when a terror attack on the stadium was foiled but killed two people including a policeman. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) convinced Zimbabwe to stay on and complete the tour.

Sidath Wettimuny, SLC's interim head, accepted PCB's invitation to visit the country for the series and expressed happiness with the response that he saw.

"I am happy to see international cricket being played in Pakistan and I am hopeful it will help change perception about the security situation and the security plan of the PCB to the rest of the boards.

"I am just amazed at the response of the Pakistani people to this series and their enthusiasm has convinced me that Sri Lanka has to give more support to Pakistan cricket," he was quoted as saying by PTI.

PCB officials have been working hard to convince the outside world that the country is safe to tour. Neither ICC nor BCCI sent any of their officials for the tour despite being invited. However, Wettimuny's statements will come as huge relief for Pakistan. They are also in talks with him to send Sri Lanka on a tour to Pakistan next year but the SLC chief remained cautious about the move.

"It would be premature to say anything but I have come to Lahore with my committee member as a sign of support and goodwill for Pakistan cricket.

"We have always been very supportive of Pakistan cricket. I'll go back and tell our board what I've seen and then we can take it from there. We need to talk to all our stakeholders including players because they matter a lot, and they need to feel comfortable with a tour," he said.