Bangladesh's batting and fielding coaches opt out of Pakistan tour [Update Post #44]

[Abdullah719]

Along with Bangladesh wicketkeeper-batsman Mushfiqur Rahim, a major part of the national team’s support staff will not travel to Pakistan later this month.

At least five members of the coaching staff in the shape of spin bowling coach Daniel Vettori, trainer Mario Villavarayan, fielding coach Ryan Cook, white-ball batting consultant Neil McKenzie and computer analyst Shrinivaas Chandrasekaran have formally withdrawn from the tour comprising one ODI, two Test matches and three T20Is.

It is understood that the BCB has accepted their decision and is already working on identifying their replacements.

Tigers head coach Russell Domingo will have Sri Lankan Champaka Ramanayake as the pace bowling coach during the T20I series.

Unlike the others, Domingo did not have any reservation about touring Pakistan.

Bangladesh’s South African physio Julian Calefato has also agreed to travel to Pakistan.

Following a long saga between Bangladesh Cricket Board and Pakistan Cricket Board, the two cricket governing bodies reached consensus over going ahead with the tour.

The tour will begin later this month and conclude in April.

Split into three parts, Bangladesh will first play the three T20Is between January 24-27 in Lahore before traveling back home.

The Tigers will return to Pakistan to play the first Test in Rawalpindi, starting on February 7, before the Pakistani players take part in the Pakistan Super League Twenty20.

Bangladesh will come back home before returning to Pakistan to play the lone ODI on April and the second and final Test, starting on April 5 in Karachi.

“We have received a letter from Mushfiq [Friday]. He is unavailable for the whole tour of Pakistan due to personal reasons,” BCB cricket operations committee chairman Akram Khan told the media.

As far as the replacements of the coaching staff are concerned, Dhaka Tribune understands that spin bowling coach Sohel Islam will play dual roles – that of spin bowling and fielding coach.

Villavarayan is unavailable due to finger injury and will be replaced by local trainer Tushar Kanti Howlader.

BCB will have a local computer analyst travel with the team in place of Indian Chandrasekaran.

https://www.dhakatribune.com/sport/2020/01/17/five-coaching-staff-members-decline-to-visit-pakistan

 

[MenInG]

Tough for Bangladesh players to perform when confronted with this situation - coaches are important.

 

[Rana]

This is just becoming exhausting.

Really disappointing stuff from BCB overall

 

[ahmedzee]

WHat is the reason, security? They should really travel to Pakistan and see themselves that security is pretty good compared to BD itself, maybe they would then reconsider going back to BD...who knows.

 

[Mamoon]

Must be an annoying feeling as a cricket board when PCB asks you to tour. Boards must dread our call.

You have players finding themselves in awkward situations. The young players can’t say no because they are afraid of losing their place, but the seniors are happy to sit out.

The coaching staff is also on the fly and you have to haphazardly scurry for their replacements on short notice.

One can imagine that all boards look at their calendar and get a queasy feeling when they see “Pakistan away.”

 

[Titan24]

Travelling to Pakistan post 2009 is something new for most teams and coaches. There are always doubts when you are asked to do something new and unknown so its understandable but soon hopefully it will not be a problem once it will feel like normal when PSLs and more tours will take place.

 

[Vastunna]

This is just becoming exhausting.

Really disappointing stuff from BCB overall

You want BCB to force the coaches to go ??

 

[Abdullah719]

Must be an annoying feeling as a cricket board when PCB asks you to tour. Boards must dread our call.

You have players finding themselves in awkward situations. The young players can’t say no because they are afraid of losing their place, but the seniors are happy to sit out.

The coaching staff is also on the fly and you have to haphazardly scurry for their replacements on short notice.

One can imagine that all boards look at their calendar and get a queasy feeling when they see “Pakistan away.”

Was also probably an annoying feeling for Pakistan players when they saw a 'home' series on the calendar that they had to play in UAE for 10 years.

 

[minamino]

It doesn't look good for the tour tbh. A lot of players and coaches are refusing to tour.

 

[Abdullah719]

This will happen until tours aren't normalised so no one should be surprised, really.

 

[Abdullah719]

It doesn't look good for the tour tbh. A lot of players and coaches are refusing to tour.

How many players?

 

[JibranAnsari]

Hope that nerves will be eased after successful completion of PSL in pakistan , don't think there will be any reasons for Boards to refuse to tour pakistan after three weeks of PSL in pakistan with players from around the world.

 

[minamino]

How many players?

Mushfiq has refused and we don't know about others and also their U19 team is in WC so I don't know which players will they actually play.

 

[moghul]

Mushfiqur Rahim is leading the way.

 

[barah_admi]

Like I said earlier, if the PCB do not have legal documentation, the BCB will purposefully build these issues and then opt out of the tour claiming they cant get staff.

 

[Abdullah719]

Like I said earlier, if the PCB do not have legal documentation, the BCB will purposefully build these issues and then opt out of the tour claiming they cant get staff.

BCB have already sorted replacements. I'm sure it's not just an agreement in the air.

 

[Abdullah719]

Mushfiq has refused and we don't know about others and also their U19 team is in WC so I don't know which players will they actually play.

To sum up: one player has refused to tour, basically.

Pretty much all the other major players signed up for PSL. I'm sure they won't have any issues with touring.

 

[Rana]

You want BCB to force the coaches to go ??

I’d rather they not tour at all.,

 

[Rana]

Was also probably an annoying feeling for Pakistan players when they saw a 'home' series on the calendar that they had to play in UAE for 10 years.

It’s mentally exhausting. Had this been the case for SENA nations half of their players would be citing issues relating to mental health within 3 years of the predicament. It’s a tough task and Pakistani players have fought it through.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Just goes to show the difference in the mindset of SL and BANG cricket boards.

 

[Usman Chadda]

Must be an annoying feeling as a cricket board when PCB asks you to tour. Boards must dread our call.

You have players finding themselves in awkward situations. The young players can’t say no because they are afraid of losing their place, but the seniors are happy to sit out.

The coaching staff is also on the fly and you have to haphazardly scurry for their replacements on short notice.

One can imagine that all boards look at their calendar and get a queasy feeling when they see “Pakistan away.”

Sad, but that's how it is. It's upto the BCB to either convince the personnel to tour, or find interim replacements.

International cricket will return to Pakistan. While past history does come into the narrative, there has to be a time when progress should be made.

For a team like Bangladesh, it's tough. Losing someone like Rahim, just overall brings down the side completely.

 

[GenericBrand]

All those coaches are SENA and one Indian, not surprising.

 

[Mesozoic]

Just goes to show the difference in the mindset of SL and BANG cricket boards.

It's the coaching staff. What does the board have anything to do with their personal choice ?

 

[light]

I’d rather they not tour at all.,

Thank the good Lord that you're not the head of PCB. With thoughts like that, international cricket would have been a distant memory for pak ... That fact that any team is even sending it's players is a big boost for PBC and pak cricket, be it Zim/BD/AFG/etc.

 

[Rana]

Bangladesh are likely to lose all matches on tour. These coaches know that this will not go down well on their CV so they have basically jumped the ship citing non-existent security issues.

 

[iPakistani]

Must be an annoying feeling as a cricket board when PCB asks you to tour. Boards must dread our call.

You have players finding themselves in awkward situations. The young players can’t say no because they are afraid of losing their place, but the seniors are happy to sit out.

The coaching staff is also on the fly and you have to haphazardly scurry for their replacements on short notice.

One can imagine that all boards look at their calendar and get a queasy feeling when they see “Pakistan away.”

Yeah it's real sad when Mushfiqur Rahim the 4ft legendary batsman says no to touring Pakistan oh and also a bunch of nobodies in the coaching staff say it. What a queasy feeling it is when world class players voluntarily put their names in the PSL draft to come to Pakistan and play.

What a shame, it's alright though i'll wait for the PSL i've heard Moeen Ali, Watson, Jason Roy, Dale Steyn and various other actual important international cricketers are coming to our beautiful country.

 

[PakLFC]

Hope Pak thrash any team they send. That is what they deserve.

 

[Rana]

Thank the good Lord that you're not the head of PCB. With thoughts like that, international cricket would have been a distant memory for pak ... That fact that any team is even sending it's players is a big boost for PBC and pak cricket, be it Zim/BD/AFG/etc.

If I were the head of the PCB, we would not even be playing India in World Cup games even if that means forfeit of points.

Thank God eh?

 

[BaankeJi]

Maybe BCCI is giving these coaching staff an IPL offer if they don't tour.
The self respecting ones like Domingo have refused that offer and decided to go ahead.

 

[Abdullah719]

Another report says that BCB didn't want to utilise Vettori for such a short tour, didn't consider the Indian staff member while the conditioning coach broke his hand recently.

So not sure what exactly is true and what isn't at this point...

 

[BDfanforever]

BCB or any other boards cannot force their players to tour if they dont want to. You guys were blaming BCB all these times, but it is very difficult to get everything rolling when it comes to tour Pak.

In summary, it is still no big deal as most of the players will tour.

 

[Rana]

BCB or any other boards cannot force their players to tour if they dont want to. You guys were blaming BCB all these times, but it is very difficult to get everything rolling when it comes to tour Pak.

In summary, it is still no big deal as most of the players will tour.

BCB is sending a squad without their proper coaches. How can the head coach be happy to tour but his coaching staff just sold him down the river?

 

[Rellu_Katta]

out of curiosity, was he not in the list of players who had signed up for PSL 2020?

 

[Forum363]

Must be an annoying feeling as a cricket board when PCB asks you to tour. Boards must dread our call.

You have players finding themselves in awkward situations. The young players can’t say no because they are afraid of losing their place, but the seniors are happy to sit out.

The coaching staff is also on the fly and you have to haphazardly scurry for their replacements on short notice.

One can imagine that all boards look at their calendar and get a queasy feeling when they see “Pakistan away.”

You seem to be complaining for the sake of it.

Let me explain from the example of setting up a business. In order to get started, you often need to bring out a less then perfect product / service, refine, update, re-release, get feedback, improve further and build up a customer base. Most global businesses are built upon humble beginnings in someone’s garage or basement.

This is the same thing with Pakistan going back to playing cricket at home. If you expect everything to suddenly fall into place one day, then that won’t happen. Even if we waited 10 years, had no incidents and then asked England / Australia to tour, they would say no. So instead, the board is making efforts to get teams to tour for a few days, then full series and build up to the return of cricket.

We’ve had world 11, Zimbabwe, West Indies, and Sri Lanka tour. Now with the whole of PSL coming home with lots of foreign players, the next step was inviting Bangladesh as per the calendar. Hosting Bangladesh in UAE would have been a step backwards.

Since they weren’t agreeing, the PCB compromised and fit in a somewhat haphazard tour. But history will not remember the random schedule. Just that Bangladesh toured Pakistan for limited overs and tests.

The next conversation PCB has for example with South Africa will begin with ‘So we’ve successful hosted Sri Lanka, held the PSL and hosted Bangladesh, let’s discuss you touring’. As opposed to ‘So, Bangladesh tour didn’t happen because they wanted to split the tour which was soooo annoying/ disorganised right? And hurt our ego, so we turned it down. But would you like to tour?’

Rather than sticking with an opinion for the sake of disagreeing with people, perhaps try and understand from a different perspective. By all metrics - Bangladesh touring for this random 3 leg tour, is CONSIDERABLY better than the tour not happening.

 

[Mamoon]

You seem to be complaining for the sake of it.

Let me explain from the example of setting up a business. In order to get started, you often need to bring out a less then perfect product / service, refine, update, re-release, get feedback, improve further and build up a customer base. Most global businesses are built upon humble beginnings in someone’s garage or basement.

This is the same thing with Pakistan going back to playing cricket at home. If you expect everything to suddenly fall into place one day, then that won’t happen. Even if we waited 10 years, had no incidents and then asked England / Australia to tour, they would say no. So instead, the board is making efforts to get teams to tour for a few days, then full series and build up to the return of cricket.

We’ve had world 11, Zimbabwe, West Indies, and Sri Lanka tour. Now with the whole of PSL coming home with lots of foreign players, the next step was inviting Bangladesh as per the calendar. Hosting Bangladesh in UAE would have been a step backwards.

Since they weren’t agreeing, the PCB compromised and fit in a somewhat haphazard tour. But history will not remember the random schedule. Just that Bangladesh toured Pakistan for limited overs and tests.

The next conversation PCB has for example with South Africa will begin with ‘So we’ve successful hosted Sri Lanka, held the PSL and hosted Bangladesh, let’s discuss you touring’. As opposed to ‘So, Bangladesh tour didn’t happen because they wanted to split the tour which was soooo annoying/ disorganised right? And hurt our ego, so we turned it down. But would you like to tour?’

Rather than sticking with an opinion for the sake of disagreeing with people, perhaps try and understand from a different perspective. By all metrics - Bangladesh touring for this random 3 leg tour, is CONSIDERABLY better than the tour not happening.

You wrote a lengthy post to have a go at me without realizing the fact that I was looking at it from the perspective of the other boards. I am not reflecting on what PCB is doing or should be doing.

I don’t blame you because criticizing my posts gets posters noticed here, so I can understand people replying to my reputation rather than what I actually wrote.

Anyway, I will repeat what I said. An away series to Pakistan is a headache for cricket boards. It is hard to assemble a team for a Pakistan tour because certain senior players will say no.

You will have to negotiate with them while negotiating with the PCB, and then there is also a possibility that a few members of your coaching staff would also refuse to tour, forcing you to look for short-term replacements.

It puts them in an awkward position because they have to give PCB something and they cannot upset their own players either, and neither can they take a weakened squad to Pakistan and lose points/rankings since a series against Pakistan is very winnable.

It is a very inconvenient situation for cricket boards and they probably do not look forward to an away series against Pakistan for non-cricketing reasons. However, it is a very attractive tour from a cricketing perspective because if you play half-decent cricket, you will most likely win.

 

[sweep_shot]

I can't believe folks are still fighting despite the tour getting a green signal.

If some staffs/players don't want to come, we should respect that. Eoin Morgan didn't come to Bangladesh last time England toured Bangladesh. Each player/staff is different.

 

[Forum363]

You wrote a lengthy post to have a go at me without realizing the fact that I was looking at it from the perspective of the other boards. I am not reflecting on what PCB is doing or should be doing.

I don’t blame you because criticizing my posts gets posters noticed here, so I can understand people replying to my reputation rather than what I actually wrote.

Anyway, I will repeat what I said. An away series to Pakistan is a headache for cricket boards. It is hard to assemble a team for a Pakistan tour because certain senior players will say no.

You will have to negotiate with them while negotiating with the PCB, and then there is also a possibility that a few members of your coaching staff would also refuse to tour, forcing you to look for short-term replacements.

It puts them in an awkward position because they have to give PCB something and they cannot upset their own players either, and neither can they take a weakened squad to Pakistan and lose points/rankings since a series against Pakistan is very winnable.

It is a very inconvenient situation for cricket boards and they probably do not look forward to an away series against Pakistan for non-cricketing reasons. However, it is a very attractive tour from a cricketing perspective because if you play half-decent cricket, you will most likely win.

I agree that I didn’t address the subject of the post I quoted, so apologies. Instead I was browsing on my phone, noticed a few posts of yours on this subject and replied in summary to your overall views on this tour which you are calling a farce.

I have no intention or desire to get noticed, I do not post enough and have chosen the most random/ under the radar name. However as you are a poster who actually replies to a counter argument with their rationale, I wanted to address this topic.

On the above, I completely agree with you that it is a hassle for boards having to deal with PCB right now. Especially a board like Bangladesh, who clearly does not want to tour, knows it’s players don’t want to tour, but knows it’s in a lose lose situation, since it does not have the clout of the big three and has shot itself in the foot by running out of reasons to cancel the tour.

I would like to hear your thoughts on why this tour is so terrible from a Pakistan perspective.

 

[Sunny_majoka]

This is expected. Things will take time to normalize people should stop overreacting

 

[MMHS]

Then sit at home and bake cookies.
Why are you involved with professional sports where your team is required to travel and you don’t want to.

There might be a reason for that also - you never know.

 

[Balthazar]

Shouldn't BCB have consulted the TM before agreeing to the tour? With this they are just going to loose the points or they don't care about that seeing it's just normal to them?

 

[Mamoon]

I would like to hear your thoughts on why this tour is so terrible from a Pakistan perspective.

Perhaps terrible is a strong word because something is better than nothing, but in spite of PCB’s desperate situation, few things should be non-negotiable and off the table. A short series (2 Tests, 3 T20Is, 1 ODI) should not be sliced in three parts. That is just ridiculous.

It is understandable to see the Test leg and the LOI leg separated, but splitting the Test series and the LOI series itself should not be acceptable.

The solitary ODI should have been played immediately before/after the T20Is, and the the two Tests should have been played back to back. I don’t see the rationale in why they are playing the first Test after the T20s instead of the solitary ODI.

The sensible schedule would have been to pay 3 T20Is and 1 ODI on 24th Jan, 25th Jan, 27th Jan and 29th Jan, then Bangladesh goes back and some of the players return for the PSL starting on 20th Feb.

The two Tests should have been played back to back in the first week of April. What is fascinating is that Bangladesh would actually be spending roughly the same number of days in Pakistan anyway.

PCB would obviously have suggested this because it is logical scheduling, but obviously Bangladesh had their own reasons/motives. It appears that they are “testing the waters” by playing the 1st Test now, and if they like what they see, the likes of Mushfiq etc. could be be convinced to tour for the 2nd Test. If they are not happy with the arrangements, some of the players who would tour for the 1st Test might pull out.

Apart from having the unwanted record of playing the longest two Test series in history and perhaps the first Test series in a long, long time where an ODI is squeezed in-between, this can also set up a dangerous precedence. If other boards see that PCB are willing to split the Test series in half they might push for it.

They get to keep PCB quiet and they reduce the risk because they aren’t spending a lot of consecutive days in Pakistan and the players get a change of environment after getting stuffed in their hotel rooms in Pakistan.

It is imperative that PCB doesn’t let other boards to exploit their desperate situation. While we are waxing lyrical about the negotiating skills of Wasim and Mani, I would argue that basically agreeing to whatever terms the other boards put up as long as they agree to tour is not a great example of negotiating skills.

 

[MenInG]

Unless you have been on Mars all this while, you would have noticed that there have been detailed negotiations - and this is the best for each side.

 

[Arya]

Feel sad for Bangladesh. They had a real chance against Pakistan, but a depleted squad just kills any hope they had.

 

[Abdullah719]

Bangladesh's batting and fielding coaches withdraw from Pakistan tour

Dhaka, Jan 18 (PTI) Bangladesh's batting coach Neil McKenzie and fielding coach Ryan Cook have withdrawn from the first leg of the upcoming Pakistan tour, the country''s cricket board said on Saturday.

Bangladesh Cricket Board's cricket operations chairman Akram Khan said the team will be without five members of the coaching staff.

While former South African cricketer McKenzie and Cook have themselves withdrawn, the BCB decided not to call spin consultant Daniel Vettori for such a short series.

Team analyst Shrinivaas Chandrasekaran was also not considered on account of him being an Indian citizen while strength and conditioning coach Mario Villavarayan has broken his hand.

https://www.outlookindia.com/newssc...g-coaches-withdraw-from-pakistan-tour/1711473

 

[Forum363]

Perhaps terrible is a strong word because something is better than nothing, but in spite of PCB’s desperate situation, few things should be non-negotiable and off the table. A short series (2 Tests, 3 T20Is, 1 ODI) should not be sliced in three parts. That is just ridiculous.

It is understandable to see the Test leg and the LOI leg separated, but splitting the Test series and the LOI series itself should not be acceptable.

The solitary ODI should have been played immediately before/after the T20Is, and the the two Tests should have been played back to back. I don’t see the rationale in why they are playing the first Test after the T20s instead of the solitary ODI.

The sensible schedule would have been to pay 3 T20Is and 1 ODI on 24th Jan, 25th Jan, 27th Jan and 29th Jan, then Bangladesh goes back and some of the players return for the PSL starting on 20th Feb.

The two Tests should have been played back to back in the first week of April. What is fascinating is that Bangladesh would actually be spending roughly the same number of days in Pakistan anyway.

PCB would obviously have suggested this because it is logical scheduling, but obviously Bangladesh had their own reasons/motives. It appears that they are “testing the waters” by playing the 1st Test now, and if they like what they see, the likes of Mushfiq etc. could be be convinced to tour for the 2nd Test. If they are not happy with the arrangements, some of the players who would tour for the 1st Test might pull out.

Apart from having the unwanted record of playing the longest two Test series in history and perhaps the first Test series in a long, long time where an ODI is squeezed in-between, this can also set up a dangerous precedence. If other boards see that PCB are willing to split the Test series in half they might push for it.

They get to keep PCB quiet and they reduce the risk because they aren’t spending a lot of consecutive days in Pakistan and the players get a change of environment after getting stuffed in their hotel rooms in Pakistan.

It is imperative that PCB doesn’t let other boards to exploit their desperate situation. While we are waxing lyrical about the negotiating skills of Wasim and Mani, I would argue that basically agreeing to whatever terms the other boards put up as long as they agree to tour is not a great example of negotiating skills.

Let me address the points in order. Firstly, while splitting a short tour into 3 parts is indeed ‘ridiculous’, it clearly was the only solution in getting Bangladesh to tour. So the options were - have a split tour or have no tour. You have already accepted that it is better to have the tour so the right thing has happened here.

No doubt your tour suggestion is better, but who knows what the reasons were for the current arrangement. Like you said, it could well be that Bangladesh are using the t20s as a trial for the first test, and the first test as a trial for the second. The ODI seems to have been randomly bolted on for the sake of it.

I fail to see how this sets a dangerous precedence. Are you saying for example that every country scheduled to visit Pakistan, would want to split the tour into smaller sub tours? Well if Australia / England are willing to tour Pakistan by even 2021/2022 through this mechanism then that is a great outcome. Eventually things will settle down but there will be a transition period.

People are waxing lyrical about the situation because getting teams to tour Pakistan is the desired outcome. No matter how that happens, we are in a winning situation and are not being ‘exploited’. Arguably the exploitation was the PCB paying extra money to 3rd string players to come to Pakistan. But even that was a necessary step. We now have a test nation coming to the country for the first time for all formats with a full strength team minus Mushfiqur. This is after months of complaining and delaying by the BCB who used every silly excuse in the book. Wasim and Mani held firm and didn't let their ego get in the way and now history will see a Pakistan tour.

There is no way in which this is a bad outcome. The points about terrible scheduling and precedence are irrelevant.

 

[SM1989]

Neil McKenzie is less secure in his native South Africa (where he is at risk from car jackers) than he would be in Pakistan.

Once Forbes has declared Pakistan safe, then it is safe. Anyone who doesn’t accept this is a flat earther. Shame on Mushfiq and the coaching stagg.

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

This "Pakistan is not safe" business is dragging on a bit now.

Even guys like Smith and Hales are ready to play in PAK now for a whole month.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

This "Pakistan is not safe" business is dragging on a bit now.

Even guys like Smith and Hales are ready to play in PAK now for a whole month.

Which Smith are you talking about?

 

[Hadi Rizvi]

Which Smith are you talking about?

Steve Smith signed on the auction for PSL 2019 while he was banned but he missed because of an elbow injury

 

[Kroll]

Team analyst Shrinivaas Chandrasekaran was also not considered on account of him being an Indian citizen

What a ridiculous decision, Chandrasekaran would have been warmly welcomed as would have the rest of the Bangla support staff. Not sure what's wrong with the BCB, I thought the PCB were bad, but these guys are giving them a good run for their money.

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

Neil McKenzie is less secure in his native South Africa (where he is at risk from car jackers) than he would be in Pakistan.

Once Forbes has declared Pakistan safe, then it is safe. Anyone who doesn’t accept this is a flat earther. Shame on Mushfiq and the coaching stagg.

Don't think they should be chastised for what is a personal choice. Nobody should be forced to do anything against their will. If they think Pakistan is unsafe, they are entitled to their own opinion. Their absence will not change the fact that confidence has been built (by in large) and international cricket is returning to Pakistan full-scale.

 

[Mamoon]

Steve Smith signed on the auction for PSL 2019 while he was banned but he missed because of an elbow injury

That doesn’t mean he was willing to play in Pakistan. He was most likely only available for the UAE leg.

Last year, only 8 of the 34 matches were held in Pakistan.

 

[Rana]

That doesn’t mean he was willing to play in Pakistan. He was most likely only available for the UAE leg.

Last year, only 8 of the 34 matches were held in Pakistan.

And you have sufficient proof that he would not have travelled to Pakistan?

 

[Mamoon]

And you have sufficient proof that he would not have travelled to Pakistan?

There is no proof that he would have played in Pakistan and there is no proof that he wouldn’t have.

Hence, we can come up with our own conclusions based on on logic, reason and intelligence.

I am afraid that if we make use of the aforementioned three qualities and not emotion, patriotism and delusion, it is fairly obvious to conclude that Smith would not have played in the Pakistan leg of PSL 2019.

- Australia is extremely averse when it comes to touring Pakistan. They were the only country that refused to play in Pakistan after the War on Terror started.

- Smith is one of the greatest players in the world in the prime of his career. He is also one of the most highly paid players in IPL.

There was very little incentive for him to take the risk of playing in Pakistan. There was little to gain but potentially plenty to lose.

- Even if he did not consider playing in Pakistan a risk, CA would not have allowed their most prized asset to tour Pakistan when they are clearly not interested in sending their team to tour.

They do not consider Pakistan safe yet, and thus they would not have allowed someone like Smith to play here.

If you still want to believe that Smith was itching to play in Pakistan and had the blessings of CA, good for you.

 

[Rana]

There is no proof that he would have played in Pakistan and there is no proof that he wouldn’t have.

Hence, we can come up with our own conclusions based on on logic, reason and intelligence.

I am afraid that if we make use of the aforementioned three qualities and not emotion, patriotism and delusion, it is fairly obvious to conclude that Smith would not have played in the Pakistan leg of PSL 2019.

- Australia is extremely averse when it comes to touring Pakistan. They were the only country that refused to play in Pakistan after the War on Terror started.

- Smith is one of the greatest players in the world in the prime of his career. He is also one of the most highly paid players in IPL.

There was very little incentive for him to take the risk of playing in Pakistan. There was little to gain but potentially plenty to lose.

- Even if he did not consider playing in Pakistan a risk, CA would not have allowed their most prized asset to tour Pakistan when they are clearly not interested in sending their team to tour.

They do not consider Pakistan safe yet, and thus they would not have allowed someone like Smith to play here.

If you still want to believe that Smith was itching to play in Pakistan and had the blessings of CA, good for you.

Where did I say I believe he is itching to come to Pakistan? I simply asked you that what is your proof that he would not have toured? Typically you respond with the Pakistan is the lowest of the low in the eyes of everyone rhetoric and draft an essay based on what you call logic, but in reality is pure theory.

So AB Devilliers who was a bigger T20 brand than Smith goes on record confirming that he will come to Pakistan in order to help restore cricket back in the country. Did he not have plenty more to lose when he was recording all of these messages?

 

[angrypathan]

Where did I say I believe he is itching to come to Pakistan? I simply asked you that what is your proof that he would not have toured? Typically you respond with the Pakistan is the lowest of the low in the eyes of everyone rhetoric and draft an essay based on what you call logic, but in reality is pure theory.

So AB Devilliers who was a bigger T20 brand than Smith goes on record confirming that he will come to Pakistan in order to help restore cricket back in the country. Did he not have plenty more to lose when he was recording all of these messages?

AB DeVilliers is from South Africa. The crime and security situation there is entirely different to that in Australia. The South African Board also allowed Amla, Faf du Plessis, Imran Tahir, and another player whose name I forget to tour as part of the World XI team. The only players to feature from Australia were Ben Cutting, and Tim Paine, who at that time was barely in the frame for international selection, let alone being Test Captain.

 

[Titan24]

The only players to feature from Australia were Ben Cutting, and Tim Paine, who at that time was barely in the frame for international selection, let alone being Test Captain.

What has the national selection to do with the security of players?

He was still an Australian cricketer and playing in the Australian domestic circuit. Yes a national team requires a different clearance than individuals.

Alex Hales, Jason Roy, Chris Jordan, Dale Steyn, Pollard etc the players which are playing PSL in Pakistan are the ones who are and have been regular member of their sides in last couple of years. I dont think being a national player or captain changes the value of your life.

 

[Mamoon]

Where did I say I believe he is itching to come to Pakistan? I simply asked you that what is your proof that he would not have toured? Typically you respond with the Pakistan is the lowest of the low in the eyes of everyone rhetoric and draft an essay based on what you call logic, but in reality is pure theory.

So AB Devilliers who was a bigger T20 brand than Smith goes on record confirming that he will come to Pakistan in order to help restore cricket back in the country. Did he not have plenty more to lose when he was recording all of these messages?

As I said before, since Smith didn’t explicitly state his intention of whether he would or wouldn’t play in Pakistan in PSL 2019, we can only make our own conclusions.

I gave you a list or reasons why Smith would not have played the Pakistan leg, and you have only come up with a poor example in response, because deep down you know as well as I do that Smith wouldn’t have come to Pakistan.

There is a difference between South Africa and Australia and there is a difference between de Villiers and Smith.

South Africa only stopped touring Pakistan after the attack on Sri Lanka. They last played in Pakistan in 2007-2008, a good 10 years after Australia last toured Pakistan in 1998.

CSA also didn’t have a problem with sending quite a few major players for the World XI tour to Pakistan in 2017.

CSA and ECB are far, far more likely to play in Pakistan long before Australia even think about it seriously.

Now let’s get to de Villiers and Smith. The former is undoubtedly a bigger T20 star, but he is 35 years old and very close to retirement. He also retired from international cricket to maximize his earnings in franchise cricket, and at this stage of his career, he is more likely to take greater risk than someone like Smith.

Smith has about 6-7 years of international and franchise cricket left in him, he from CA a lot more than what de Villiers earned from CSA, and his board is completely averse to playing in Pakistan unlike CSA.

Furthermore, Smith has never played in Pakistan before. He probably has only vague memories of watching Australia play in Pakistan because he was about 8 years old in 1998.

When you haven’t been a to a country that is deemed not safe enough to tour by the majority of cricket boards and especially your own cricket board, it is very reasonable to understand your reluctance and apprehensions.

On the contrary, not only is CSA more open to the idea of touring Pakistan, de Villiers himself toured Pakistan for a month in 2007.

He played in Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad, he is familiar with what to expect, he probably has some memory of the hotels he stayed in etc.

Overall, he had a safe experience in Pakistan before and thus, he is more likely to be encouraged by that and agree to tour again.

Moreover, it is very naive to assume that teams and players want to tour Pakistan because they want to help restore cricket in Pakistan.

Those empty statements don’t mean anything. The bitter truth is that apart from Pakistanis, no one gives two hoots about the restoration of cricket in Pakistan.

The cricket world is moving along fine without playing in Pakistan. Players have become legends of the game without playing a single match in Pakistan.

Teams will only tour Pakistan again if they consider it safe enough to tour.

What have ECB done to help restore cricket in Pakistan? Cash-strapped boards like Sri Lanka, West Indies, Zimbabwe etc. have all played in Pakistan in the last 5 years and they have returned home unscathed, but that hasn’t been enough to convince ECB to play a single T20I in Pakistan.

ICC took half of South Africa to Pakistan in 2017, and although CSA didn’t block the players, they haven’t found a single window in the last two years to squeeze in a short tour of Pakistan. It is only now in 2020 that are seemingly finally agreeing to play in Pakistan.

CA and NZC don’t even want to talk about touring Pakistan yet.

You will get a lot of lip-service from several boards and players on how they want to help restore cricket in Pakistan, but actions speak louder than words.

Their actions clearly suggest that they are not interesting in providing a helping hand and will only agree to tour if they consider Pakistan safe enough.

Look, you can call this poor logic if you want, but I am presenting you with a list of reasons why Smith would not have come to Pakistan for PSL 2019.

You are free to come up with your own “great theory” of why Smith would have, but you haven’t done that because you actually agree that he wouldn’t have come. Unfortunately, you don’t want to admit it because it is hurtful.