KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan said late on Thursday that Zimbabwe’s tour of the country is still on after a bizarre 16-minute episode during which the Zimbabwe cricket authorities retracted their decision earlier in the evening to pull out of the series.

Shaharyar told Dawn shortly after arriving in Lahore following a short visit to India, that as far as the PCB is concern, Zimbabwe will tour Pakistan.

“I spoke to William Manase [Zimbabwe Cricket chief] a short while ago and he assured me that the Zimbabwe government has not made any announcement regarding the tour being called off,” the PCB chairman said.

“A final decision from their side is expected tomorrow [Friday]. Until then we have to keep out fingers crossed.”

Shaharyar further added that during his brief discussion with Manase, he put across a couple of points to the Zimbabwe official to ensure the tour takes place.

“What has happened in Karachi is extremely unfortunate but we have clearly told them that the highest level of security will be placed when Zimbabwe are here,” Shaharyar said.

“We have also discussed the issue with the chief minister of Punjab [Shahbaz Sharif] and he has given his complete consent because we all think that there is tremendous interest among everyone in Pakistan as well as abroad.

“We are all striving to start the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. The players, fans and everybody else want to get involved in the Zimbabwe series,” he concluded.

“And if the tour is called off, then we can’t imagine the repercussions of the Zimbabwe fallout. But I’m very hopeful they’ll come and play in Lahore as planned.”

Published in Dawn, May 15th, 2015

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