ISLAMABAD: Cricket Australia’s (CA) security team, for the first time after two decades, has softened its stance and decided to send a team of experts to Pakistan examine the prospects of playing matches in the country, the country’s media reported on Wednesday.
Earlier this month, the incoming Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) managing director, Wasim Khan, in an interview with Cricinfo — a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket — said he hoped that Australia can be persuaded to return to Pakistan after more than 20 years in March next year.
Austria last played in Pakistan in 1998 and in March 2019, Pakistan and Australia are scheduled to play five One-Day International matches (ODIs) in the UAE.
Since 2009, when gunmen attacked a bus carrying Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, injuring six players and killing six security personnel and two civilians, most cricket nations have avoided touring Pakistan.
Following that incident, the Pakistan Cricket Board has hosted international teams in the UAE but there has been little international cricket on the home grounds in Pakistan.
However, in March this year, Karachi hosted a cricket match which included foreign players for the first time in nine years when the Pakistan Super League’s final match was staged at the National Stadium in the city.