Hope New Zealand’s abrupt departure does not have long term consequences for Pakistan, says PCB’s Wasim Khan

New Zealand’s decision to abandon their tour of Pakistan just minutes before the start of the first ODI has “left many scars” for the host country, said Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Wasim Khan. New Zealand abandoned their first tour of the country in 18 years just before toss for the first ODI in Rawalpindi on the basis of a security alert from their government.

Pakistan were beginning to host teams regularly in the recent past after being shunned for over a decade following an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team by terrorists in Lahore in 2009 on their way to the stadium. “It’s been pretty gut-wrenching,” PCB chief executive Wasim Khan told a virtual news conference on Sunday.

“We’ve done a huge amount of work in building our credibility back up again in world cricket. The rug has been pulled out from under our feet as quick as that.”

Pakistan hosted their first Test match in over a decade and are slated to host England later this year and Australia next year. Cricket Australia said that it was monitoring the situation and would “talk with the relevant authorities once more information becomes known”.

“It sets a very dangerous precedent if countries can unilaterally just abandoned tours. Then it does affect relationships. Where does it leave us as a sport?” Khan asked.

“As it stands at the moment, we have no plans to go abroad to play our cricket.It’s taken us a long time to return. We are adamant that we remain safe but of course we’ve also got to have contingency and backups,” said Khan.