Sri Lanka set to play T20I against Pakistan

“I am keen to take my team to Pakistan. We had our security experts visit and make an assessment and things look positive," said Sri Lanka Cricket’s president Thilanga Sumathipala.

Sri Lanka, in nine years, will be the second team to tour Pakistan after Zimbabwe.

Sri Lanka may well play a Twenty20 match against Pakistan at Lahore in September, if security and logistical concerns are addressed. After the conclusion of the Asian Cricket Council’s Annual General Body meeting at Colombo, the Sri Lanka Cricket’s (SLC) president Thilanga Sumathipala said that security experts have already gone to Lahore, where the Sri Lankan team bus was shot at in 2009.

Subsequently only Zimbabwe toured Pakistan. “I am keen to take my team to Pakistan. We had our security experts visit and make an assessment and things look positive. We have three T20 games coming up against Pakistan in September and we would like to play one game in Lahore,” Sumathipala said.

Seeking Asian unity, Sumathipala said: “We extend our fullest support to Pakistan as (part of) the cricketing family of Asia. Sri Lanka suffered through three decades of terrorism and war and at one stage no one wanted to come here, Pakistan stood by us then, as did India.”

The Asian Cricket Council AGM was presided over by its chairman Najam Sethi, who is also the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.