The suspense over this month’s home series against Zimbabwe ended when the country's cricket chief insisted that his team would tour Pakistan despite security concerns.
In a statement that was welcomed by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zimbabwe Cricket chairman Peter Chingoka said that his team would travel to Pakistan on January 12 to play five one-dayers and a warm-up game.
 “We are definitely going ahead with the tour,” said Chingoka. “Zimbabwe Cricket has an obligation to fulfill its obligations under the Future Tours programme.” Zimbabwe’s tour was in doubt following the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto in Rawalpindi on December 27.
However, PCB officials have been insisting that Pakistan is safe for touring cricketers and that the tour will go ahead as scheduled. Reacting to Chingoka’s statement, his Pakistani counterpart said that Zimbabwe have taken the right decision.
 “It is a positive step and we can now look forward to a good series against Zimbabwe,” Dr Nasim Ashraf, the PCB chairman said. He stressed that other cricketing nations should follow suit.
 “We believe that Pakistan is fit to host visiting teams and should not be deprived of international cricket,” he said. Without naming Australia, Ashraf said that touring teams should leave their security arrangements in the hands of Pakistan.
 “Though we believe, sportsmen are not a target (here), fool-proof security arrangements will be in place for any visiting team like Zimbabwe during their tour of Pakistan,” he said. The confirmation of the Zimbabwe tour should come as a big relief for the PCB which has been quite uncertain of its home season especially after a series of media reports suggested that the Australians are all set to cancel their tour of Pakistan scheduled for March and April.
The Australians are scheduled to play three Tests, five one-dayers and a Twenty20 International. But a huge question mark hangs over the fate of their tour as already several of the Aussie cricketers have expressed their concerns over touring Pakistan.
All-rounder Andrew Symonds was the first to openly express his fears when he said that he doesn’t want to go to Pakistan because of security concerns. Later, Australian captain Ricky Ponting suggested that the series against Pakistan could be moved to a neutral venue to save it from cancellation. But PCB officials have ruled out the option of a neutral venue saying that they want Australia to come and play in Pakistan.
Meanwhile, the PCB has revised the itinerary of the Zimbabwe tour and now the first match of the one-day series will be played in Karachi instead of Hyderabad. According to the revised schedule, which will be officially released by the PCB today, the opening match of the series will be played here at the National Stadium on January 21. Earlier, the series opener was to be staged by Hyderabad on January 26. Hyderabad will host the second one-dayer on January 24. The remaining three matches will be played in Multan, Faisalabad and Sheikhupura.
On the other hand Pakistan are set to field a relatively young pace attack in the five-match ODI series against Zimbabwe.
A PCB source said that four of the country’s leading pacers Shoaib Akhtar, Umar Gul, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Sami would sit out the series. The trio of Rao Iftikhar Anjum, Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat is likely to shoulder the pace responsibility during the series which Pakistan are aiming to win 5-0. Pakistan is also thinking about trying out a couple of other medium-pacers.
The other two pacers Asif and Gul will be missing the series due to fitness problems. Asif is on the path to recovery after undergoing a keyhole surgery on his bowling elbow in Australia last month. He is racing against time to get fit in time for the crucial home series against Australia in March-April.
Sources said that the selectors are still undecided on Gul’s participation in the series against Zimbabwe. Gul has almost recovered from a back problem that ruled him out of the Test series against India and is currently training to regain match form.
The revised itinerary: January 14-17 Four-day match v Patron’s XI at DHA Ground Karachi. January 21 First ODI at National Stadium Karachi (d/n). January 24 Second ODI at Niaz Stadium Hyderabad. January 27 Third ODI at Multan Cricket Stadium Multan (d/n). January 30 Fourth ODI at Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad (d/n). February 2 Fifth ODI at Sheikhupura Stadium Sheikhupura.