PCB chairman Najam Sethi: Pakistan to host West Indies for next five years from 2018

Pakistan players celebrate after winning the third and final T20 against Sri Lanka at Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Aamir Qureshi / AFP

Pakistan will host West Indies in a three-match Twenty20 series in March and the Caribbean side will be playing in the South Asian country every year for the next five years, the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced.

West Indies will also host a reciprocal series against Pakistan, probably in the United States, as part of the agreement. A third team will also play the US series.

"We have an agreement with West Indies for the next five years," PCB chairman Najam Sethi said in comments published by Dawn newspaper.

"This is an independent bilateral arrangement, independent of the FTPs [Future Tour Programmes] that would be arranged with the International Cricket Council in December/January."

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Read more:

• Future tours: Sri Lanka to plan more matches in Pakistan after security success of Lahore T20
• Pakistan v Sri Lanka review: Lahore return cause for celebration but a series to forget for Tharanga

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The first series will be held from March 29-April 1 next year in Pakistan, but venues are still to be determined.

Pakistan had largely been shunned by international teams for the past eight years due to security concerns following an attack by gunmen on the bus carrying the Sri Lankan team in 2009.

The attack injured six Sri Lankan players and killed six security personnel and two civilians and Pakistan have since played almost all of their "home" matches in the UAE.

Zimbabwe had a limited overs tour in May, 2015, however Sri Lanka's Twenty20 match in Lahore last month is considered as marking the end of the isolation, with Sethi telling Reuters at the time that the West Indies had committed to tour but dates still had to be finalised.