Is the Western viewpoint that international cricket cannot be played in Pakistan justified?

[Bahnz]

Actually the 2009 Sri Lankan security arrangements were very lax, over confident and far from presidential level

But that's just the thing, in 2009 Sri Lanka were promised presidential security arrangements, and what they got left them in real danger. It will take decades to rebuild the lost trust. In the near term, I can only see whistle-stop T-20 tours having any viability.

 

[Sarwar89]

Are you kidding me? I guarantee you that Pakistani players and the PCB will have no issues playing in Afghanistan.

Then why they have not toured Afghanistan so far ?

 

[Savak]

Then why they have not toured Afghanistan so far ?

Don't think Afghanistan has hosted any international team yet. Besides lol, last time Pakistan sent a sporting team to Afghanistan, the Taliban forced them to shave their heads off

 

[javier]

The Cricket World will never forget 2009 attacks on the Sri Lankan team. There is so much anarchy in Pakistan, why would anyone want to visit a country which can be held hostage by some Mullahs and their supporters over an innocent being set free?

 

[ahsan17]

But that's just the thing, in 2009 Sri Lanka were promised presidential security arrangements, and what they got left them in real danger. It will take decades to rebuild the lost trust. In the near term, I can only see whistle-stop T-20 tours having any viability.

There are independent security consultants that are now ensuring that the security is up to the parameters they've set. The security setup is not something Pakistan is creating out of thin air.

 

[cricketindiafan]

Sri Lanka not coming back for a full tour has been a bit of surprise.

I don't how high cricket is on Imran Khan's priority list, but he can definitely use his cricketing stature to influence some boards to tour in the next 12-15 months. Ideal would have been with India, but that is highly unlikely.

 

[ahsan17]

Its a bit of a conundrum.

Nobody is going to tour without massive security cohorts, plans, back up plans, contingency plans etc. But the mere fact these are needed will naturally put off people. Why tour a place where 10.000 soldiers and police are needed just to get you to be ground?

The biggest stumbling block is the governmental side of things. No Foreign Office in the world has Pakistan as anywhere near safe. That takes decades to change.

I think too many people are falling into the folly of, just because there arent weekly bombs like in 2009, that everything is "safe". Its obviously improved but still safe is a totally different planet from where you are now. You just had a globally reported case of a woman given a death penalty for a completely ludicrous reason that ended up being thrown out in court anyway, and the reaction was for tens of thousands of people nationwide to call for her death anyway in reaction to this. Why would people, high profile ones at that, go to a place like that? Thats not my viewpoint fwiw, but its how I imagine cricket boards and players would look at things.

Pakistan is improving but its a country where protests spur up on a seemingly monthly basis that cripple infrastructure, cities and business and forgotten about by the next day. These happened before with cricket true but in light of the 2009 incident these issues take on a darker subtext.

I hope Ireland tour and I think there's a chance of it happening provided no more terrorist attacks occur between now and any tour, but people need to be realistic and look at things rationally.

With respect to your first point about things being better from 2009 but not good enough, the reality is that statistically Pakistan is as safe (in fact, safer, statistically) than when cricket teams toured Pakistan. 2009 and the period around that was really bad, 2018 is a different story.

With respect to the Asia Bibi case, without getting into the politics of it, how does it effect cricket? No cricket board has explicitly mentioned that as a reason to not tour Pakistan, so let's not invent reasons because the other ones are looking less and less reasonable in 2018.

For me, it is mostly because of outdated knowledge and views is why most teams are not touring Pakistan. With that being said, I think all teams except Australia and NZ will be open to playing at least one game. A full series might be some ways off though.

 

[ahsan17]

Sri Lanka not coming back for a full tour has been a bit of surprise.

I don't how high cricket is on Imran Khan's priority list, but he can definitely use his cricketing stature to influence some boards to tour in the next 12-15 months. Ideal would have been with India, but that is highly unlikely.

I've thought about that too, I think he can make it happen if he tries. But he has barely mentioned cricket since he took power, so it's not a high priority for him. I don't think he has to try very much to make it happen either.

 

[jadaja]

If it was just some random attacks, cricket would have returned to Pakistan long time back.But instead of owning the responsibility PCB tried to deflect the blame onto others.

Ijaj Butt caused untold damage to PCB and its credibility.

 

[Hitman]

If it was just some random attacks, cricket would have returned to Pakistan long time back.But instead of owning the responsibility PCB tried to deflect the blame onto others.

Ijaj Butt caused untold damage to PCB and its credibility.

The only reason Pakistan had to shift their neutral venue from England to the UAE is because of the honorable Ijaz Butt. There has been no bigger poison in Pakistan cricket than him in the last 20 odd years.

 

[Titan24]

This team 7-8 matches of PSL are going to be held in Pak and other than Smith and ABD almost all will travel.

If PCB keeps on doing what they have been for couple of years eventually teams will start to visit. Just one series from Australia, Eng or NZ is needed to change it all.

 

[Titan24]

The only reason Pakistan had to shift their neutral venue from England to the UAE is because of the honorable Ijaz Butt. There has been no bigger poison in Pakistan cricket than him in the last 20 odd years.

Yes they guy had to face some big decisions and failed miserably. Was unlucky that he had to make some big calls die to some unforseen events but that is what the leadership position of any organization is all about, dont take the role if you cant perform inefficiently.

 

[Hitman]

Yes they guy had to face some big decisions and failed miserably. Was unlucky that he had to make some big calls die to some unforseen events but that is what the leadership position of any organization is all about, dont take the role if you cant perform inefficiently.

All he needed to do was keep his big mouth shut. Instead he accused players from England to be involved in match fixing. This after England allowed their country to be used as a neutral venue by Pakistan.

 

[jadaja]

The only reason Pakistan had to shift their neutral venue from England to the UAE is because of the honorable Ijaz Butt. There has been no bigger poison in Pakistan cricket than him in the last 20 odd years.

Ijaj Butt and his bookie circle comments still make me chuckle.PCB were very lax in their attitude and still are to some extent.The sense of entitlement is so evident in their actions atleast to outsiders.

Even the OP is also in tone of entitlement.PCB and its fans needs to realize this entitlement attitude will not win any favors.

 

[Savak]

I find it puzzling how can hosting matches in England be cheaper than UAE?

 

[Hitman]

I find it puzzling how can hosting matches in England be cheaper than UAE?

Only the hosting expenses matter? What about the conditions and the live attendance?

 

[ILcricket]

PCB should invite Bangladesh for 3 real home Tests as a confidence building measure .

 

[Markhor]

As much as I'd like to see international cricket return to Pakistan, the fact remains there's a big difference between what Pakistanis view as the ground reality and the western perception of Pakistan's security whether we like it or not.

Yes, you can justifiably point to the statistics to show huge progress has been made in the war against terrorism. The major cities are far safer than the 2007-2013 period. We can also point to the safe hosting of PSL finals and series against World XI, SRL and WI.

However players are understandably cautious about returning to the only country that has seen a terror attack on an international cricket team. They aren't going to take any risk, however small, to their lives for the sake of doing PCB a favour. People argue that terror attacks can occur anywhere such as the UK and France - but there's a difference in the scale of risk. They aren't frontline states in the WOT - attacks there are an anomaly whereas in Pakistan there's been over 50k deaths. The Karachi attack this week is a reminder. Recently even a fringe political group like TLY have caused major disruption to cities.

It will take at least 2-3 more years and more patience from an understandably restless public.

The only reason Pakistan had to shift their neutral venue from England to the UAE is because of the honorable Ijaz Butt. There has been no bigger poison in Pakistan cricket than him in the last 20 odd years.

Not true. Butt was a buffoon undoubtedly but the real reason is ECB don't want clashes with their home international and domestic season.

 

[Savak]

As much as I'd like to see international cricket return to Pakistan, the fact remains there's a big difference between what Pakistanis view as the ground reality and the western perception of Pakistan's security whether we like it or not.

Yes, you can justifiably point to the statistics to show huge progress has been made in the war against terrorism. The major cities are far safer than the 2007-2013 period. We can also point to the safe hosting of PSL finals and series against World XI, SRL and WI.

However players are understandably cautious about returning to the only country that has seen a terror attack on an international cricket team. They aren't going to take any risk, however small, to their lives for the sake of doing PCB a favour. People argue that terror attacks can occur anywhere such as the UK and France - but there's a difference in the scale of risk. They aren't frontline states in the WOT - attacks there are an anomaly whereas in Pakistan there's been over 50k deaths. The Karachi attack this week is a reminder. Recently even a fringe political group like TLY have caused major disruption to cities.

It will take at least 2-3 more years and more patience from an understandably restless public.



Not true. Butt was a buffoon undoubtedly but the real reason is ECB don't want clashes with their home international and domestic season.

Western minds and ignorance must be educated, their concerns were justified before the PCB was able to host these 10-15 games in Pakistan but not anymore. If left to them, they would never come to Pakistan for the next 100 years under the pretext of another 2-3 years and that is an unacceptable state of affairs. The PCB must aggressively do the right things for this objective.

 

[ahsan17]

As much as I'd like to see international cricket return to Pakistan, the fact remains there's a big difference between what Pakistanis view as the ground reality and the western perception of Pakistan's security whether we like it or not.

Yes, you can justifiably point to the statistics to show huge progress has been made in the war against terrorism. The major cities are far safer than the 2007-2013 period. We can also point to the safe hosting of PSL finals and series against World XI, SRL and WI.

However players are understandably cautious about returning to the only country that has seen a terror attack on an international cricket team. They aren't going to take any risk, however small, to their lives for the sake of doing PCB a favour. People argue that terror attacks can occur anywhere such as the UK and France - but there's a difference in the scale of risk. They aren't frontline states in the WOT - attacks there are an anomaly whereas in Pakistan there's been over 50k deaths. The Karachi attack this week is a reminder. Recently even a fringe political group like TLY have caused major disruption to cities.

It will take at least 2-3 more years and more patience from an understandably restless public.



Not true. Butt was a buffoon undoubtedly but the real reason is ECB don't want clashes with their home international and domestic season.

With respect to the difference in the scale of risk, the scale of risk isn't as great as what western perception appears to make it out to be any longer. Yes they would've been correct 5 years ago, but in 2018 they are not correct. This is especially true if you consider that cricket is only hosted in Punjab and Sindh. You mentioned the Karachi attack - as I mentioned earlier statistically its a blip because 2018 (and even 2017) has had far and few attacks.

 

[Savak]

Must keep lobbying for this