Australia Likely To Travel Pakistan In 2022, Says Chief Executive Kevin Roberts

Cricket Australia chief executive Kevin Robers is hopeful about their cricket team travelling to Pakistan in 2022. However, the security remains the only concern and they will not play with the safety of the cricketers.

Pakistan have been an isolated country since the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009 by two gunmen in Lahore. The incident left six players injured while six police and two civilians were killed. Since then, teams have refused to tour the South Asian countries.

Roberts recently visited Pakistan to have a first-hand look about the security arrangements in the country. He is the first high-level delegation to tour the country in a decade. Australia have not played there since 1998 on government advice. But the team is likely to tour in 2022.

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Speaking on his visit, Kevin Roberts said that he wanted to see the situation of the ground himself. He has time and again stressed on the full-proof security of the players and the support staffs wherever they play.

“The purpose was really to understand the landscape, look at the plans they have in place around security and then start expressing our expectations for the safety of our players and our support staff well over two years away from when we’re due to tour,” Roberts said to Melbourne’s SEN radio.

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Kevin Roberts also added that they are happy with the situation and things are going in the right direction. Although they want cricket to return to Pakistan but at the same time, Roberts reminded that they will not play with the safety of the cricketers.

“Things are heading in the right direction. In saying that we were travelling in armoured cars and escorted by police and felt very safe over there. But certainly that level of security is still required at this point.” Roberts said “we would love to see international cricket return to Pakistan”, but cautioned that “we would never put our people in jeopardy,” he concluded.

Notably, Sri Lanka Cricket has given a green signal to go ahead with the tour against Pakistan starting from September 27. They will play three T20Is and ODIs each which will full-fledged cricket returning to Pakistan for the first time since 2009.