High Court ruling allows Karachi to host Test

The uncertainty regarding the venue for the first Test between Pakistan and Bangladesh ended after a Pakistan court allowed the board to host the match at Karachi.

The Test was in jeopardy when the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) filed a petition in the Sindh High Court after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that it would set up provincial cricket associations to organise matches. According to that decision, the Test at Karachi would have been staged by the newly formed Sindh Cricket Association (SCA) instead of the KCCA. However, Ataur Rehman, a Sindh High Court judge, ordered the parties to "maintain a status quo", and said that the petition would be heard on August 28. The first Test starts on August 20.

The KCCA had taken exception to the Pakistan board's decision to form the new association. Arshad Tayyab Ali, the KCCA's lawyer, called the move "unconstitutional", saying that it was "an unjust action against the KCCA". "We had no other option but to go to the court as our last resort and would still not want to disrupt the Test match," Sirajul Islam Bukhari, the KCCA secretary, told AFP. But the PCB's spokesman Samiul Hasan expressed dismay over the action: "It is disappointing, and on the eve of a hectic home season we should have spent our energies on organising the Test."

Bangladesh will play three Tests and five one-day internationals in Pakistan, after which South Africa will tour Pakistan for three Tests and three ODIs.