New Zealand keen on rescheduling Pakistan tour

The New Zealand tour of Pakistan ended on a sour note after New Zealand abandoned the tour hours before the start of the first ODI due to security concerns. The move certainly dented their relationship with the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) who was not amused by New Zealand Cricket's (NZC) unilateral decision to cancel the series despite Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s assurance of foolproof security. However, as per reports, NZC is keen on rescheduling the series in future.

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Cricket Pakistan quoted NZC Chief Executive David White who said New Zealand share a great relationship with Pakistan and things are being worked out to re-schedule the series.

“We’ve got a very close working relationship with Pakistan Cricket. We’d like to think that over the next few days, weeks and months that we’ll work through this to ensure that we play the content that we’ve missed out on and we continue our close working relationship,” he concluded.

White further justified their decision to pull out of the Pakistan tour and said the security of the players is a priority concern for the NZC. “I think what’s important to point out is that for every tour we go on, whether it’s Pakistan or England or anywhere, that we go through a very thorough process covering security, etcetera. This was no exception. In fact, it was probably more in this case,” said White.

Pakistan is keenly trying to bring cricket back to the country but with New Zealand pulling out due to security concerns, their plans hit a massive bump. Meanwhile, England and Australia tours to Pakistan have also been put in jeopardy. It was reported that PCB approached Bangladesh and Sri Lanka for a short series but things could not work out owing to their prior commitments.