Ramiz Raja, the voice of cricket in Pakistan, says New Zealand’s tour withdrawal has put unfair question marks over his country’s ability to stage matches.
The Pakistan Cricket Board chairman says that New Zealand’s abrupt withdrawal from its tour on security grounds has put an unwanted question mark over Pakistan’s ability to host international matches.
A 33-member Black Caps squad was flying back home on Saturday after New Zealand abandoned its tour to Pakistan minutes before the start of the first one-day international at Rawalpindi on Friday.
“There’s a lot of pressure created on Pakistan cricket and (especially) Pakistan cricket at home,” PCB chairman Ramiz Raja told cricket fans in a video message released on Saturday.
“The fight to survive is the base on which we challenge the whole world. If such a situation is developed (again) when international cricket comes under pressure in Pakistan, we will challenge them once again.”
New Zealand Cricket (NZC) declined to reveal the nature of the security alert from its own government that prompted the sudden decision to cancel the tour during which the Kiwis were scheduled to play three ODIs in Rawalpindi and five Twenty20s at Lahore.
However, a government minister in Pakistan said New Zealand was wary of attack outside the stadium in Rawalpindi which prompted the Kiwis to call off the tour.
Raja, who was elected PCB chairman last Monday, was frustrated after New Zealand took a unilateral decision to pull out despite spending five days in the federal capital and having two training sessions at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.
Raja also said he was disappointed New Zealand did not share the security threat with either the PCB or the Pakistan government. He plans to raise the issue with the International Cricket Council.
Raja, a renowned cricket commentator known in the cricketing fraternity as the “Voice of Pakistan”, appealed for the country’s fans to help the team come out of this crisis.
“Your pain and my pain are the same, it’s a shared pain,” he said. “Whatever happened is not good for Pakistan cricket…The point is that we have experienced this before but we have to move forward.”
The New Zealand move has also put in doubt England’s short tour to Pakistan in October for a two-match Twenty20 series before the T20 World Cup in the United Arab Emirates.
The England Cricket Board has said it will take the decision on the tour to Pakistan this weekend. Both England men’s and women’s teams are scheduled to tour Pakistan next month.
Pakistan are due to play New Zealand in a World Cup group game on October 26, two days after they take on rivals India in their opener.
“I want to say to my cricket team: vent your frustration and anger by performing well (at the World Cup),” Raja said. “When you become the best team, everybody will want to play against you.
“We should learn from this and move forward, we don’t need to get disappointed.”
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm not suggesting they hand over sources to the ICC. I've no idea where you got that ridiculous idea from. I'm suggesting their inability to share information with Pakistan has been a massive breach of trust, certainly in the eyes of the Pakistanis and Raja's comments are completely justified. Australia would be just as angry and making even more inflammatory comments if Pakistan pulled out of a scheduled tour Down Under, citing "credible intelligence sources", but not giving away where they obtained their information.
Ball Burster
Roar Rookie
No one in their right mind would hand over their intelligence sources to the ICC. And Raja's recent inflammatory comments do not help Pakistan's case.
Ian
Roar Rookie
England have just pulled out of their tour.I expect that Australia will soon follow.It's all desperately sad but also desperately predictable. I've previously commented that we're heading for a future of India/England/Australia only Test Match Series with the rest of the world thrown a few scraps.Sadly I might be proved right on this one.
DAVEC
Roar Rookie
well maybe they havebut it is up to individual countries to play cricket there
Jeff
Roar Rookie
Hopefully not long before the details are made public. I wonder if NZ govt has already share details with ENG? ECB stated yesterday that would make a decision in 24-48 hours re their tour, so presumably they’d need that info to make their assessment.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm sure there would have been a real threat Dave but I'm wondering if the real issue was that the threat was considered severe enough to cancel a tour lasting a few weeks? Ramiz and the rest of Pakistan cricket could wear a single game delay for sure because they're sadly no strangers to terrorist attacks, but to lose out on so many T20 & ODI matches when they have no genuine idea why, must be really frustrating..
DaveJ
Roar Rookie
Yes, a pity they couldn’t consult a bit more with the Paks, even if they couldn’t tell them everything. Would be fascinating to know what the real story was. Given the quality of intelligence analysis leading to some drone strikes, WMD search parties and the like, you wouldn’t be 100% confident that it was watertight. On the other hand there has apparently been an upsurge in local terrorist attacks in Pakistan since fall of Kabul, so you wouldn’t be too surprised if it was genuine.
Paul
Roar Guru
"The Voice of Pakistan", eh? I found one reference online that suggests Raja is known "the world over as the voice of Pakistan cricket". Is this correct? I know he's the new Chairman of Pakistan cricket, but not that he held that title. I think he has every right to feel angry and upset, though how much of this rhetoric is directed to his players in an attempt to gee them up is another matter. In an ideal world, the ICC would have an independent person/group look into this issue and provide a report that we the public could read. Given the sensitivities around the original information and how it was obtained then handled, I doubt that will ever happen, which will not help heal the rift that's been opened.