International cricket back in Pakistan as World XI gear up for T20 games

Islamabad - The PCB is also looking to host Sri Lanka in October

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Najam Sethi says international cricket will return to the country next month when a World XI play a three-match Twenty20 series in Lahore. 
The 15-men World XI comprises cricketers from all top Test playing nations with former Zimbabwe captain Andy Flower as their coach. 
Flower had been assigned to select the squad and the tour is financially supported by the International Cricket Council. 
The PCB is also looking to host Sri Lanka in October and is in talks with the West Indies Cricket Board for a three-match T20 series in November. 
Zimbabwe and Afghanistan are the only foreign countries to tour Pakistan for short limited-overs series since terrorists attacked a Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Lahore in 2009.
"We are getting positive signals and the doors of international cricket are opening on Pakistan," Najam Sethi told a press conference in Lahore.
The tours are seen as a big step towards Pakistan once again hosting major international outfits after militants targeted the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, killing eight people and wounding at least seven players.
Pakistan has also been forced to play their cricket in the UAE for the past eight years including two editions of the Pakistan Super League Twenty20 (PSL).
But security has dramatically improved across Pakistan in the last two years, signalling hopes for the slow revival of international sport in the country.
In March, Pakistan successfully hosted the PSL final in Lahore with English players Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan, West Indies' Darren Sammy and Marlon Samuels and South Africa's Morne van Wyk and Zimbabwe's Sean Ervine competing.
The match's success pushed the PCB to expedite efforts to convince more teams to play in Pakistan.
"We will play a full series with Sri Lanka in the UAE after which Sri Lanka will come to Lahore for a Twenty20, so things are shaping up," said the PCB boss.