Islamabad
New Zealand’s abrupt decision to pull out of their cricket tour of Pakistan has created “an unfortunate scenario” but the hosts know how to overcome such crises, the chairman of the country’s cricket board Ramiz Raja said on Saturday.
New Zealand abandoned the tour on the day of the opening fixture on Friday citing a government security alert, while England are also reconsidering their men’s and women’s team visits to Pakistan next month.
The tour was due to start with the first of three one-dayers in Rawalpindi but New Zealand did not travel to the stadium.
“It’s an unfortunate scenario,” Raja, who took over as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman on Monday, said in a video posted on the board’s Twitter handle.
“But we’ve faced similar situations in the past and have always overcome them. We’ve tremendous resilience… it’s a setback to staging international cricket in Pakistan but we’ll overcome this crisis too.” Several Pakistan players took to Twitter to vent their anger and frustration at New Zealand’s decision.—Reuters
