Pakistan await India decision

Indian cricket authorities said yesterday that they would decide at the end of this month whether to accept an invitation to tour Pakistan.

Indian cricket authorities said yesterday that they would decide at the end of this month whether to accept an invitation to tour Pakistan.

India have not played a Test series in Pakistan since 1989 and the proposed tour - involving three Tests and five one-day internationals from December to February - remains in doubt due to the ongoing political dispute between the two countries over Kashmir.

Over the past decade the Indian team have travelled to Pakistan only once, for a one-day series two years ago. Pakistan toured India for a three-Test series last year, after a gap of 12 years.

"We are going to discuss the proposed tour at a general body meeting on the 29th [of September]," J Y Lele, secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India, said yesterday.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has urged India to end the uncertainty. "India must set us a deadline so we can make alternative arrangements," the PCB chairman, General Tauqir Zia, said. "Whenever I meet Indian Board officials they show an inclination to play Pakistan but their decisions are taken by their government."