New Zealand tour of Pakistan 2021 (Cancelled) News

When England pulled out of their scheduled tours to Pakistan, there were arguments that why couldn’t the series be completed in the UAE, which had served as Pakistan’s second home in the period when teams were not ready to tour the country. However, that option is “out of the equation” for the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as they are not willing to find a middle ground and looking to shift tours to UAE in a bid to ensure tours get completed. They are bullish on the security situation in their home country and are confident of their arrangements in facilities to host international sides. “That is now out of the equation because the security situation in Pakistan is normal and we have everything in place to host any international team. No more neutral venues for us,” a PCB official was quoted as saying by PTI. Pakistan used UAE as a makeshift hosting country for international tours after International sides refused to tour Pakistan in the aftermath of the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lanka side. Meanwhile, the PCB also contacted many cricket boards that are deemed friendly to them such as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Zimbabwe to make up for the financial losses after the twin withdrawals by New Zealand and England before putting all their attention on their domestic National T20 Championship as “curtain-raiser” to the upcoming T20 World Cup.

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) new chairman Ramiz Raja has lashed out at the Australian cricketers and said that they no longer play with aggression against the Indian team. He further added that the Aussie players have “changed their DNA because of money”. “Australians have changed their DNA because of money, they play against India happily and without aggressive approach. International cricketers have pressure as now they want to save their IPL contracts where they receive a lot of money plus add-ons,” Raja was quoted as saying to ARY News. Recently, first New Zealand cancelled their white-ball tour against Pakistan, minutes before the commencement of the first ODI, citing security reasons and later, England followed the Kiwis as they too abandoned the trip to the Asian country. Raja took a dig at both the sides and said that they ran away. “New Zealand ran away and England followed the same suit. They both have done wrong against us,” said Raja. Pakistan are not left with any international assignments at present and will now feature in the World T20 2021 directly which is scheduled to be co-hosted by UAE and Oman in October-November. The Pakistan players are presently taking part in the domestic National T20 competition.

Since the time England have cancelled their tour of Pakistan, which was scheduled for October this year, the England and Wales Cricket Board have had to face heavy criticism, especially due to the fact that Pakistan risked its players to help ECB fight the losses due to Covid at the time when even vaccines were not developed. Joining the list of critics are Australia’s Usman Khawaja and former India player Wasim Jaffer who have said that ECB opting out of the tour was a big blow for Pakistan Cricket which they did not deserve to be dealt. Khawaja said that it is all about money and only because Pakistan and Bangladesh are not rich boards, England, New Zealand or Australia could afford to cancel the tours or abandon it midway. “I feel it’s very easy for players and organisations to say no to Pakistan because it’s Pakistan. I think the same thing would apply too if it were Bangladesh. But nobody would say no to India if they’re in the same situation,” The Western Australian quoted Khawaja as saying. “Money talks, we all know that, and that’s probably a big part of it,” the 34-year-old Queensland skipper, who played for Islamabad United in this year's PSL when it was moved to UAE, added. Wasim Jaffer on the other end went on to remind ECB how much they owed to Pakistan. “The @TheRealPCB have every reason to be disappointed with the ECB. Pak and WI toured England last year during pandemic before vaccines. England owes so much to both Pak and WI. Least ECB could do is not cancel the reciprocal tours. There are no winners when cricket is cancelled,” the Punjab Kings batting consultant tweeted. After New Zealand abandoned its Pakistan tour right ahead of the start of the first ODI in Rawalpindi, England too decided to cancel both its men’s and women’s tour to Pakistan, which it had promised after Pakistan’s last year tour during the pandemic.

New Zealand had cancelled their limited-overs tour of Pakistan a few hours before the first ODI citing security issues and this was followed by England abandoning their tour to the Asia country as well. Now, there are some reports doing the rounds that the Pakistan Cricket Board had spent almost INRT 27 lakhs on the food bills of the officers who were in charge of security of the New Zealand side. The reports further suggest that there were five SPs and over 500 SSPs (police officers) who were deployed for the security of the Blackcaps along with the Pakistan army. The New Zealand Cricket in a statement had said that the tour had been called-off due to security reasons. “The side was to play Pakistan this evening in the first of three ODIs in Rawalpindi, before moving to Lahore for a five-match T20 series. However, following an escalation in the New Zealand Government threat levels for Pakistan, and advice from NZC security advisors on the ground, it has been decided the BLACKCAPS will not continue with the tour,” NZC said in the statement calling off the tour. Both New Zealand and England have been facing fire on the social media and from the former Pakistan cricketers for cancelling the tours.

New Zealand skipper Kane Williamson has extended his best wishes to Pakistan cricket in the aftermath of his team’s withdrawal from the country without playing a single game of a full-fledged scheduled tour. Williamson reiterated that players’ safety is “paramount” and they should not be blamed for the “sudden call” of withdrawal from the series as that decision was taken by the government. He confirmed that players were ready to go to the ground before the message came from the New Zealand government. "It was a sudden call, but obviously a real shame. Cricket in Pakistan is an amazing thing and so well supported. There is so much passion there and I think the guys will be gutted to not have started and played the whole series,” Williamson said to Sportstar. “You want to be playing the game in all countries. It is an international game and there is so much passion for it around the world, particularly in Pakistan. It was really exciting to see the series go back there and I know our team was looking forward to it. Players’ safety is paramount and when you hear messages going through from the government, it is certainly above the players’ heads.” Williamson also expressed hope that their pull out from the series will not have a “lasting impact” on the game in Pakistan as it has been a “special place” for the game of cricket. “They were obviously over there, ready to go to the ground. It is a sudden thing that happened. I certainly hope there is no lasting impact from it because it is a special place for cricket to be and there have been a lot of strides forward to see cricket go back into Pakistan and play there safely. We have seen that happen on a number of occasions, so hopefully, there is plenty more cricket there to come,” he concluded. Williamson was not travelling with the New Zealand side and he is with the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the ongoing edition of the IPL in UAE. Meanwhile, the CEO of the New Zealand Cricket, David White confirmed a “specific credible” threat against the Blackcaps which forced them with no other options but to abandon the tour. He said that the board received risk assessments from both their security agency and independent sources before asking the players to come back. However, he commended the Pakistan Cricket Board for professional behaviour in tough times and promised to find a way to tour the country again next year. He expressed hope of finding a “window” to make up for the abandoned series next year when they are scheduled to tour for a full series including two Test matches. “It’s really disappointing for Pakistan cricket, but we had no option but to leave the tour, unfortunately. I was at home and we got a call from a government agency on Friday afternoon informing us of a specific credible threat against the team. I contacted our security person in Pakistan, which was at 3 am in the morning, and we just worked through it with him on the ground and other independent sources as well,” White said on Mornings with Ian Smith show on SEN Radio. “I’m sure we’ll find a window. We are scheduled to play them next year in January and February, two Test matches as part of the World Test Championships and some ODIs, so maybe we can wrap the games around those series.” New Zealand’s decision of leaving the series and Pakistan has not gone down well with the PCB and the newly-appointed chairman Ramiz Raja has threatened to “see” them at the ICC.

Earlier last week, in a dramatic turnaround ahead of their first ODI match against Pakistan, New Zealand cancelled their historic white-ball tour citing security reasons. Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has now reacted to the Blackcaps abandoning the tour and has expressed his disappointment on the same. "I think the world underestimates how powerful our security forces are. Cricket is more than a sport to us and we will do everything in our power to prevent cricket (from) being taken from us again. The world needs to give us a chance to prove that!," Akram tweeted on Sunday. The former left-handed bowler further added that the Pakistan forces have made the country one of the safest places in the world to play cricket. This tour would have been NZ's first in 18 years in the subcontinental national and could have paved away the roadmap for other countries to visit Pakistan. "Extremely disappointed in NZ choice to abandon the #PAKvNZ tour. Pakistan has proven that our security measures for international games is of the highest order, making Pakistan one of the safest places in the world to play cricket today. I feel we are not hearing the whole story," Akram said. The two sides were slated to play three ODIs and five T20Is. While the ODIs were scheduled to take place in Rawalpindi, the T20Is had to be played in Lahore. With NZ's cancellation of the trip, teams like England have put their own tour under scanner and it is expected that they will try to force a move out as well. Pakistan have been one of the busiest touring teams in the pandemic and have played several series away from home. The conversation in recent months had been about the countries extending their gratitude by touring Pakistan, but the NZ pullout would be a huge dampener on the plans.