Pakistan Cricket Board CEO, Wasim Khan, has claimed that England, Australia and New Zealand have all stated their intention to tour Pakistan across 2021 and 2022, as quoted by geosuper.tv.
No Test cricket was played in the country for ten years following an attack on the Sri Lanka team in Lahore in 2009, with Pakistan instead playing the majority of their fixtures in the UAE.
International cricket has returned to the nation bit by bit in recent years, though.
Zimbabwe embarked on a white-ball tour in 2015 and other nations came for T20I series’, before Sri Lanka played Tests in 2019, with Bangladesh following suit in February.
Now, as long as the global health crisis permits it, Khan says three of the world’s top four ranked Test nations will travel to Pakistan over the next two years.
“These teams [England, Australia and New Zealand] have already confirmed that they will tour Pakistan in 2021 and 2022,” he said, as quoted by geosuper.tv.
“Depending on the [global health crisis] situation, the coming years will see regular international cricket activities in Pakistan.”
Earlier this summer, PCB Chairman, Eshan Mani, asserted that Pakistan was safe and that hosting matches in the UAE would no longer be an option, while England skipper Joe Root expressed his willingness to play in the country.
It would be a big boost for Pakistan going forward if they could rely on the heavyweights of world cricket to sign up for bilateral series’ on home soil.
Full stadiums may be a pipe dream for the time being but supporters will be proud that their nation is once again deemed safe for international sport and the cessation of fixtures in the UAE would ease financial strain on the PCB.
Pakistan have talented squads in all formats of the game right now, too, and the players themselves will no doubt be excited by the prospect of regularly representing their country at home.
Before the visits of England, Australia and New Zealand in the coming years, Zimbabwe are due play three T20Is in Rawalpindi and three ODIs in Multan in November [Saj Sadiq].
It’s then hoped that South Africa will play two Tests and three T20Is in Pakistan in January 2021.
