India is set to spend christmas with Pakistanis

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Pakistan to tour India in December



The BCCI has confirmed that the cricketing ties between India and Pakistan will resume and Pakistan will tour India for three one-dayers in December. The cricketing ties between the two countries had snapped after the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The ODIs will be played towards the end of the month, likely during the gap between England ODIs and Tests.

"The government is ready in principle to host the Pakistan team", a top BCCI official said after the Working Committee meeting in New Delhi.

The two countries have played against each other in the 2011 World Cup and Asia Cup recently, but bilateral series have been suspended for almost five years: the last being in India in 2007.

India pulled out of the 2009 cricket tour of Pakistan in the wake of the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai. They were due to arrive in Pakistan in January 2009 for three Tests, five one-day games and a Twenty20 international.

During the recent visit of PCB chief Zaka Ashraf to India and at last month's ICC and Asian Cricket Council meetings in Malaysia, there had been discussions between officials of both the Boards on the matter.

Pakistan cricket has faced several crisis in the last year and a tour of India may boost the confidence of the game's managers in the country. No international team has played in Pakistan since the March 2009 attack in Lahore, which left eight people dead and several visiting players wounded, and the national team has had to play its "home" matches abroad, mostly in the United Arab Emirates.

A spot-fixing scandal, which ended with three Pakistan cricketers sent to a British prison last November, engulfed the team's Test series in mid 2010.

Although the fixture of the three-match series is yet to be decided, Mohali and Chennai are the likely venues to host the matches. The third venue could be either New Delhi or Bangalore.

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