Pakistan tour will be safe, no concerns in our mind: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald

Days before Australia’s departure for their first tour of Pakistan in 24 years, head coach Andrew McDonald has said that there are no safety concerns in the minds of Aussie players. Notably, both New Zealand and England had decided to cancel their respective tours of Pakistan last year, citing differet reasons. However, the Aussies have named a full-strength squad for both Tests and white-ball series against the home side.

Team Australia are set to play three Tests and an equal number of ODIs, apart from one T20I. The matches will be played across Lahore, Karachi and Rawalpindi from March 4 to April 5. Team Australia will be without the services of  David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood during the white-ball leg. .

Pakistan tour will be exciting: Andrew McDonald

Led by Pat Cummins, the Aussies are currently going under pre-series training in Melbourne and completing quarantine protocols before they depart to Islamabad.

Speaking in a virtual press conference McDonald said, “They’re jumping on the plane. So that to me says they’re ready to go and they are clear in their mind, that it’s going to be safe and it’s an exciting tour and they’re getting their heads around the cricket as opposed to the other things that potentially can pop into their mind.”

“Yeah, well, it’s difficult to tell in terms of Pakistan and Pakistan is different to Pakistan in the UAE. You know, they’ve got some great options, spin bowling options that, you know, fastball. “Shaheen Shah Afridi, you know, keeps getting better every year. Left-arm pace, swings the ball, can reverse swing the ball as well, so they got some exciting players,” he added. Meanwhile, McDonald also backed his players to do well in Pakistan conditions.

“Equally, we’ve got some really exciting players as well. Mitchell Starc and Cummins and Hazlewood and Cameroon Green and our bowling attack is equally exciting. So I think it’s going to be a really good contest. Yeah, you say that Pakistan is unpredictable, but I think in their own conditions is an element of predictability. They like to draw games out. You know, they play the long game, they’re patient and they play their conditions well,” he further said.