Although the itineraries were still being prepared, Australia will arrive here in the third week of September and will remain here till the end of October. During the period, the Aussies will play three Tests and an equal number of limited overs internationals.
It will be Australia's first major tour of Pakistan since their infamous 1994-95 visit after which three of their players levelled bribery allegations against former captain Salim Malik. The champion batsman was later exonerated of all charges by Justice (Retd) Fakhruddin G Ebraheem.
Australia also visited Pakistan for three days in 1996 for the World Cup final against Sri Lanka which they lost by seven wickets. Unlike their pre-Indian tour conditions, the Australians have so far not approached the Pakistan cricket authorities to schedule their matches in cities which were less polluted. However, sources in the cricket board said if any such suggestions came, they might not be able to accommodated them because of domestic reasons.
Immediately after the series, Pakistan and Australia will fly to Dhaka for the knock-out mini-World Cup which is expected to start in the last week of October. After the Dhaka tournament, Pakistan and Zimbabwe will return to Pakistan for a three-Test and three one-day international series to be played between November-December.
The series will serve as full dress rehearsal for Pakistan's most demanding tour of India which is expected to commence from the second week of January. Between January and March, Pakistan and India will play five Tests and six one-day internationals. This would be Pakistan's first full fledged tour of India since Imran Khan's men beat the Indians 1-0 in a six-Test series in 1986.
Pakistan and India have been playing one-day cricket, mostly on foreign soil, but have not exchanged Test tours and the last series was played way back in 1988-89 when Krish Srikkanth brought his side for a drawn four-Test series.
Pakistan's previous three visits to India were cancelled because of political reasons while India refused to cross borders saying according to the principle of reciprocity, it was Pakistan's turn.
The ice was finally broken when Pakistan played the World Cup quarter-final at Bangalore and then also participated in their Independence Cup last May. Pakistan later hosted India for a threematch one-day international series earlier this season.
Pakistan cricket officials have said they have proposed India's visit to Pakistan for a Test series in 2001. But they added that the final decision would be made in the forthcoming ICC meeting where it would be deliberated as to when in 2001 both the teams would be free to play each other.
Overall, Pakistan will play at least 17 one-day internationals, including five in the Sahara Cup to be played between Sept 12-22. The tally of the matches would be increased if Pakistan continued to win in the mini-World Cup which will be played on the knock-out format. Pakistan will also play 11 Tests.