Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi on Friday dismissed the notion that the West Indies team coming to Karachi for the three-match T20I series is composed of B-grade cricketers, clarifying that only two players of the Caribbean side opted out of the tour.

"It is not fair to say that big West Indies players are not coming," Sethi told journalists at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. "Just two of their players have refused to come to Pakistan due to their [prior] commitments in the Indian Premier League."

Sethi explained that several of West Indies' high profile players are not part of their country's international T20 side and so their absence from the Pakistan tour should not be considered a refusal to visit on their part.

The PCB chairman refused to take credit of international cricket coming to Pakistan, instead attributing the West Indies' impending arrival to the prayers of the nation.

Some media outlets recently claimed that the Counter Terrorism Department had foiled potential terrorism attempts targeting the twin play-off matches of the Pakistan Super League 2018 held in Lahore. But Sethi downplayed those arrests, saying that it was a routine incident that was blown out of proportion by the media.

“It was not big development,” Sethi said. “Security agencies routinely conduct raids to arrest these suspects. The raid and arrest of terrorists during PSL-3 matches in Lahore was also a routine matter.”