Cricket Australia (CA) has rejected Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) proposal to play two ODI matches in Pakistan citing security reasons. PCB had requested Australia to play two of its five ODI against Pakistan in their home country. The five ODIs are scheduled to be played in UAE.
CA has cited security concerns of their players and staff behind the decision but said that it is open to look upon the idea in future. “We want to see international cricket return to Pakistan – the country has a huge passion for it,” The Sydney Morning Herald cited a CA spokesperson as saying.
“However, the safety of our players and support staff is our number one priority and we won’t compromise that. We’ll continue to take advice from a range of government agencies and our own security intelligence and act on this accordingly.
“At this stage, from an Australia team perspective, we are not contemplating moving our current bilateral-tour arrangements from taking on Pakistan in the UAE, when they host the next series but we do remain open to the idea of playing in the country again. We formally advised the PCB of this position in early January,” he added.
Australia has not played an away series against Pakistan since 1998. Pakistan was banned form hosting international matches on its soil since the 2009 terror attack on Sri Lankan players. Later, Sri Lanka, West Indies and Zimbabwe toured the nation after 2017.
