South Africa, Australia and England should tour Pakistan, feels Kumar Sangakkara

Kumar Sangakkara, the president of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), reckons that teams like Australia, South Africa and England should tour Pakistan to facilitate cricket there. Ever since the 2009 bus attack on the Sri Lankan side, teams have been reluctant to tour the war-stricken nation. However, since 2015, cricket has been gradually been making its way to Pakistan.

In the last few months, the Lankans and Bangladesh have travelled to Pakistan for bilateral series. The Tiger’s tour was divided into three phases, the third of which couldn’t take place due to the massive coronavirus outbreak across the globe. As per the legendary Sangakkara, teams should be going there, especially after security clearances.

MCC tour will be a precursor to that: Kumar Sangakkara

“It doesn’t matter an Asian side going there or a secondary side in terms of world prominence when it comes to having security measures in place,” Sangakkara was quoted as saying on The Cricket Show on Sky Sports Cricket.

“I think it’s important that England or Australia, even South Africa, make up their minds to actually tour when security is assured and they have those discussions; the MCC tour will be a precursor to that,” the veteran stated.

Though there have been bilateral series in Pakistan of late, Sangakkara, who scored over 28,000 runs for Lanka, said that it’s too early for an extended tour of Pakistan. However, he sounded optimistic about cricket going back to the nation.

“I don’t think you are ever going to see in the near future a five-test match series coupled with a one-day series played back-to-back. I think it will be more a case of you play two test matches, you take a break, you go back and play three one-dayers,” he added.

The last match played in Pakistan was the Test against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi. Recently, Pakistan has offered to host global flagship tournaments after the International Cricket Council (ICC) invited expression of interest for the 2023-31 cycle.

Back in February, the MCC, led by Sangakkara, played a few matches in Pakistan against PSL teams, Lahore Qalandars and Multan Sultans. In the 2015 World Cup, he became the first batsman to smash four tons in a row in the mega event.