KARACHI: A senior official of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) declared on Sunday that any foreign team which refuses to travel to this country in future would have to give a valid reason for its decision.

“In future the PCB will make it a general practice for all teams who are scheduled to play in Pakistan to give a logical explanation for their [expected] refusal of travelling to our country,” Zakir Khan, the PCB’s director international cricket, said during the announc­ement of the title sponsor for the upcoming five-match One-day International series between Pakistan and Australia in the UAE.

“Our intentions are very clear on this issue because until now major foreign sides had been raising security concerns as chief reason for their not playing Pakistan in bilateral series on our soil. Prime Minister Imran Khan wants the entire Pakistan Super League (PSL) to be staged in the country from next season onwards after staging of last eight matches of fourth edition at the National Stadium.

“Holding HBL PSL matches in Karachi is definitely an overwhelming success for Pakistan cricket because all top stars have not only willingly agreed to come here but thoroughly enjoyed being part of the league for the final leg [in Karachi].

“On our invitation Sean Carroll, the head of security at Cricket Australia [an ex-police investigator who also oversees CA’s anti-corruption program] and his counterpart at the Bangladesh Cricket Board, retired Major Hussain Imam, are both here in Karachi and I’m sure they’ll give positive feedbacks to their respective boards regarding the security under the ICC’s FTP program in October for two Tests and we’re hoping that the matches arrangements put in operation for the PSL,” Zakir added. “Sri Lanka are due to tour Pakistan are held here in the country than in UAE.”

Pakistan have been forced to play all their home Test series in either Dubai, Abu Dhabi or Sharjah since November 2010 following the tragic events of March 2009 in Lahore when the Sri Lankan team came under terror attacks from a dozen gunmen on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium on day three of the final match of the two-Test series, leaving six visiting team members and fourth umpire Ahsan Raza wounded while six policemen and two civilians lost their lives.

Meanwhile, David Richardson, the outgoing chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC) who is also here to watch the PSL final between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmi, was scheduled to hold a media conference later in the night.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019