The cricketing action which had come to a standstill due to the global pandemic caused due to COVID-19 finally resumed with many bilateral series being played among the different cricketing nations. As a part of their schedule, the England men’s and women’s cricket team will be traveling together to Pakistan for a bilateral series.
While the men’s team will play a couple of T20Is in Rawalpindi before they head to Oman for the ICC World T20, the women’s team on the other hand will play two T20Is and three ODIs from October 13 to October 21. This will be the first time that England will tour Pakistan in 16 years.
However, there are certain issues that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) will have to sort out before they send their men’s and women’s team to Pakistan. Afghanistan, which is the neighboring country of Pakistan, has been making the headlines for the last few days. The Taliban has taken over the reins of the country and there has been a lot of unrest and turmoil in the country.
In view of this, the ECB is forced to take stock of the security ahead of England’s tour of Pakistan this autumn amid concerns over the conflict in neighboring Afghanistan. However, the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan has raised concerns over new security issues in neighboring Pakistan.
“For any tour there’s ongoing security procedures and checks. We continue to plan for the men’s and women’s tour of Pakistan this autumn,” an ECB spokesperson was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.
This year Pakistan women’s cricket team has played a couple of away series in South Africa and the West Indies. They toured South Africa in January-February and West Indies in June-July. However, they have not hosted a single series this year. The England series will be a good chance for Pakistan to have a home series.
With all the tensions going around in Afghanistan, it will be interesting to see how England looks at the upcoming series. Will the ECB give a green signal to their men’s and women’s teams to tour Pakistan or will they call it off? Only time will tell.
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