England players would tour Pakistan as they are open-minded: Mushtaq Ahmed

Former cricketer Mushtaq Ahmed reckoned that the England players are “open-minded” and would tour Pakistan in the near future. Earlier in September, the Three Lions backed off from sending their men’s and women’s teams to Pakistan for bilateral series in the month of October. Their decision came after New Zealand abandoned their tour of the Asian country before their first ODI.

Had the tour happened, it would have been England’s first series in Pakistan since 2005. The series would have last four days with only two T20Is to be played. After both the countries opted out, the Pakistan Cricket Board and a number of former players expressed their displeasure of the matter.

However, the 51-year-old Ahmed sounded optimistic and said that the England players won’t let them down. He said that the Brits should acknowledge the fact that Pakistan toured England for a bilateral series when the COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak.

The players will definitely come now, feels Mushtaq Ahmed

“I think from my experience, playing in England and also coach of England for six years, I think the guys are very open-minded and they know the circumstances of the world,” Ahmed was quoted as saying in cricket.com.

“I know them — I played with lots of cricketers, I coached them for six years, I played (English) county cricket. I think (the) players will definitely come now,” he stated.

“If (a) team can travel in corona (virus) situation when the people were dying (in Britain) and Pakistan went to England and played a series, then they should have acknowledged that and they should respect that,” Ahmed said.

After the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team, international cricket in Pakistan came to a halt. Thereafter, Pakistan started playing their home matches in the UAE. In 2015, Zimbabwe toured Pakistan, but cricket is yet to start in a full-fledged manner in Pakistan. Ahmed said that it’s not easy for the team to play their home away from home.

“I am saying that because heroes become heroes when they play in front of their home crowds and that is when you start believing that you can represent your country — you deserve that platform,” he added.