Calcutta, Feb. 21: Families of Indian cricketers will be allowed to accompany them from the start of next month’s Pakistan tour, in a departure from the usual practice of letting them join the players in the second half of foreign trips.

“This being a goodwill series, no such restriction will be applied by the board,” cricket board chief Jagmohan Dalmiya said today. Dalmiya himself will join the touring party in Karachi on March 13 after attending the ICC’s executive committee meeting in New Zealand.

In another departure from tradition, there will be no conditioning camp before India’s first Test tour of Pakistan in 14 years because of the ongoing Duleep Trophy matches. “Most of the leading players will be playing in the Duleep (Trophy). So there is no point in conducting a camp with just a handful of players.”

Whether a bowling coach will accompany the team is yet to be decided. “This issue is being discussed,” he added.

The squad for the five one-dayers will be picked on March 3, while the Test team will be named later. Dalmiya said that apart from the injured Harbhajan Singh, there were others whose fitness was a concern, but refused to give names.

Dalmiya also said that while the Pakistan tour was of prime importance, the tour of Bangladesh would surely happen. “We will work on” the schedule, he added.