'Always tried to accommodate interests of game but others simply don't' - Babar Azam 'disappointed' after ECB cancels Pakistan tour

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) on Monday, September 20, announced that they have decided to cancel their men’s and women’s teams’ tour to Pakistan. The decision was slightly expected after New Zealand pulled out of their tour to Pakistan, hours before the start of the first game. However, the reasons cited by ECB are quite different from what New Zealand Cricket (NZC) pointed out. 

After the news of the ECB pulling out of the tour arrived, there was a lot of disappointment within the Pakistan cricket community. Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja took it out on Twitter. Pakistan men’s team skipper Babar Azam also made a tweet expressing his disappointment, while slightly hinting at the double standards of ECB. 

We have always tried to accommodate the interests of the game but others simply don’t: Babar Azam

Babar Azam wrote on Twitter, “Disappointed, yet again. We have always tried to accommodate the interests of the game but others simply don’t. We have come a long way in our cricketing journey and it will only get better with time. We will not only survive but thrive as well. In shaa’Allah”

Now, it is worth noting that last year, in the middle of the pandemic, when the vaccine was not out yet, Pakistan men’s team travelled to England to play Test matches and T20Is. The ECB had promised Pakistan a visit in return for the tour, which basically made sure that the board didn’t run into massive losses in a pandemic-ridden year. 

Interestingly enough, Pakistan also toured England for T20Is and ODIs earlier this year. The men’s team of England was supposed to play just two T20Is while women’s were scheduled to play three ODIs and two T20Is. The ECB cited that the players wanted a break from international cricket to manage their mental wellbeing, which forced the ECB to call off this tour. 

NZC had cited security concerns for their pulling out of their tour. They had intelligence of bomb threats around the hotels in which the players stayed. The last few days have been quite sad for cricket in Pakistan. After being deprived of international cricket for a better part of the last decade, Pakistan was slowly becoming accessible to other teams. However, the cancellation of these two tours might just not have affected PCB financially but also in their future endeavors.