Islamabad [Pakistan], September 21 : The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja on Tuesday stated that the board will start planning for the backup options for the home Test and ODI series against England in 2022 in case the visitors decide not to tour again.
England are scheduled to tour Pakistan for three Tests and five ODIs in November-December 2022. Ever since the ECB announced their withdrawal from their tour to Pakistan this October on Monday, the question now being raised is that what's the guarantee that ECB will travel next year to Pakistan.
Speaking on this matter, Ramiz Raja in a press conference on Tuesday, as per espncricinfo.com said: "I spoke to Ian [Watmore] about this and I said what is the guarantee of England coming back in 2022 and playing because a month before that tour you can easily quote tiredness, players being spooked, or sick of living in a bubble, or a threat perception not being shared with us. He clearly had no answer to that, so we'll have a backup plan for sure."
Asked on Tuesday how he felt given that Pakistan had toured England twice during the pandemic, the first trip in a more precarious environment, on which depended a large part of England's summer. He said: "It's a feeling of being used and binned. That is the feeling. A little bit of handholding, a little bit of caring was needed after New Zealand pulled out and we didn't get that from the ECB."
After New Zealand decided to abandon their tour of Pakistan right ahead of the first ODI, England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also announced that its men's and women's tour of Pakistan would not go ahead.