Australia’s Test captain, Tim Paine says that a few players may opt-out of the Pakistan tour, not feeling comfortable to voyage the cricket-loving realm.
A day ago, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced a three-match ODI, as many Test, and a one-off T20I series in the nation next year. It will be Australia’s first tour of the country since 1998.
The tour will go ahead after Cricket Australia (CA) will be assured of the security issues. Notably, citing similar issues, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) called off their ongoing tour of Pakistan a moment before the first match kick-started.
Seeking their footsteps, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) abandoned sending their men and women teams to the country stating players’ health issues. However, the chief of the board is en route to Pakistan to repair the damaged relationships among PCB and ECB.
Paine added,
“There’ll be some guys who will be happy to take the experts’ advice and others will want to know a bit more. If we’re totally honest, there might be some people who aren’t comfortable going regardless.
“Hopefully, we will get the best team we can,”
Notably, the series will be played in March-April. The Tests will take place in Karachi (3-7 March), Rawalpindi (12-16 March), and Lahore (21-25 March), while Lahore will be the venue for the four white-ball matches to be played from 29 March to 5 April.
The Tests will be played as part of the ICC World Test Championship, while the ODIs will be connected to the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup Super League.
Also, see:
ECB chief routes to Pakistan to repair ECB-PCB relation
