Lahore
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Executive Wasim Khan on Thursday said that the tour of England stand to benefit Pakistan cricket in the future as well, hoping England would tour the country in 2022.
“Will that benefit Pakistan cricket in the future? Of course, it will,” he told a PCB podcast. “Have we struck a deal with them right now for them to come? … Of course, we didn’t. Now is not the time to do that. It’s all about timing.
“Conversations will take place with ECB (England and Wales Cricket Board) and they will do the right thing by us as well.”
Pakistan’s decision to tour England despite the risks of travelling during the COVID-19 pandemic was not part of a reciprocal agreement but the PCB expects its English counterpart to “do the right thing” in 2022.
Pakistan are the second Test team, after West Indies, to tour England this summer. They will play three Tests, the first beginning on Wednesday, and three Twenty20 Internationals in bio-secure venues in Manchester and Southampton.
Read more: England name unchanged squad for first test against Pakistan
England last visited Pakistan in 2005 and are slated to return in 2022, but the top teams have so far declined to tour since a 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in Lahore.
After years of staging ‘home’ Tests in neutral venues due to security concerns, Pakistan played their first Test on home soil since 2009 against Sri Lanka in December last year and have hosted Bangladesh this year. Khan said the PCB had put the game’s interests ahead of its own.—APP
