Lahore, Feb 15: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today agreed to accommodate India`s concern over the duration of the Indian team`s stay in Karachi and Peshawar but ruled out removing the cities from the tour itinerary. A three-member Indian delegation, sent here by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to review the security arrangements made for the Indian team, met Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan and Pakistan additional home secretary Abdul Rauf Chowdhury this evening here at the end of its week-long visit to this country.

The two sides discussed threadbare the logistics and measures being taken to ensure the safety of the players during the 40-day tour in March-April, highly placed sources said.
The Indian delegation comprised Ratnakar Shetty, joint secretary of the BCCI, board`s communication director Amrit Mathur and Yashovardhan Azad, an Inspector General of Police (IGP) in the Indian Home Ministry.

The sources said the Indian team would submit its report to the BCCI on returning home tomorrow.

Indications are that the Indian team would play only one-day matches at both Karachi and Peshawar so that the players need not spend more than two or three days in these two cities where fundamentalists have strong footholds.

The sources said that the two boards would soon finalise an agreement covering all details of the Indian team`s tour. This will be after a gap of 14 years that the Indians will play a full series in this country.

Meanwhile, Sami-ul-Hassan, PCB`s spokesman, confirmed that India had not as such opposed to Karachi and Peshawar being among the venues but only conveyed its view that the duration of the team`s stay in these two places should not be too long.
``We will try to accommodate the Indian concerns in the itinerary. But Peshawar and Karachi will remain as venues,`` he said.

Bureau Report