KARACHI: Pakistan on Thursday confirmed the West Indies cricket team will tour the South Asian nation next month as international play resumes there following cancellations by New Zealand and England over safety and player welfare concerns.
New Zealand abandoned a tour last month minutes before the start of their first one-day international in Rawalpindi, citing a security alert.
A week later, England withdrew their men's and women's teams from Pakistan declaring the tour could affect the players' mental and physical health under COVID-19 restrictions.
But the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said Thursday the West Indies have agreed to tour for three one-day internationals and three Twenty20 matches.
"PCB confirms West Indies will play three Twenty20 Internationals and as many Men's Cricket World Cup Super League matches at the National Stadium in Karachi from 13-22 December," a release from the board said.
It will be the West Indies' first tour of Pakistan since April 2018 when they played three T20 internationals.
The two-time 50-over world champions will be playing ODIs in Pakistan for the first time since December 2006.
A delighted PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said he hoped the series would open the way for a tour by Australia, who have not visited Pakistan since 1998 due to security threats.
"After missing out on home internationals in September and October, the West Indies tour will formally kick off an exciting and entertaining season in Pakistan with Pakistan Super League 2022 and Australia's first full series to follow," Raja is quoted as saying in the release.
Raja added that he hoped the government would allow the maximum crowds as COVID-19 restrictions were being relaxed.
The West Indies will arrive on December 9 and play all the matches in Karachi, with T20 internationals on December 13, 14 and 16. The ODIs will be played on December 18, 20 and 22.
Pakistan Cricket Board confirms West Indies to tour in December
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Pakistan Cricket Board confirms West Indies to tour in December
- It will be the West Indies' first tour of Pakistan since April 2018 when they played three T20 internationals
- The visiting team will arrive on December 9 and play all the matches in Karachi
Imran Khan’s party calls for ‘shutter-down’ strike on second anniversary of Pakistan elections
- Khan’s PTI party claims 2024 general elections’ results were rigged in their opponents’ favor
- Pakistan’s government denies the allegations, says polls were conducted in transparent manner
ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party has called on the masses to observe a countrywide “shutter-down” strike in protest against alleged rigging today, Sunday, on the second anniversary of the Feb. 8, 2024, general elections.
Millions of people took to polling booths across the country on Feb. 8, 2024, to vote for their national and provincial candidates. However, the polling was marred by a nationwide shutdown of cellphone networks and delayed results, leading to widespread allegations of election manipulation by the PTI and other opposition parties. The caretaker government at the time and the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) both rejected the allegations.
Khan’s PTI candidates contested the Feb. 8 elections as independents after the party was barred from the polls. They won the most seats but fell short of the majority needed to form a government, which was made by a smattering of rival political parties led by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. The government insists the polling was conducted transparently and that Khan’s party was not denied a fair chance.
“Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and the opposition alliance Tehreek-e-Tahafuz-e-Ayin-e-Pakistan (TTAP) are holding a nationwide shutter-down strike today,” Haleem Adil Sheikh, president of the PTI’s chapter in Sindh, told Arab News.
“We had appealed to the people to keep their businesses closed today because on this day, the people of Pakistan were deprived of their right to send their true representatives to parliament.”
Sheikh said the party was also mourning the victims of a deadly suicide blast in Islamabad on Friday which killed over 30 people.
TTAP chief and Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly, Mehmood Khan Achakzai, appealed to police in Sindh and Punjab not to disturb people who were participating in the strike.
“The people of Pakistan must express their anger by closing their shops,” Achakzai said on Saturday while speaking to reporters.
Khan was ousted from power in April 2022 after what is widely believed to be a falling out with the country’s powerful top generals. The army denies it interferes in politics.
He has been in prison since August 2023 and faces a slew of legal challenges that ruled him out of the Feb. 8 general elections and which he says are politically motivated to keep him and his party away from power.
In January 2025, an accountability court convicted Khan and his wife in the £190 million Al-Qadir Trust land corruption case, sentencing him to 14 years and her to seven years after finding that the trust was used to acquire land and funds in exchange for alleged favors. The couple denies any wrongdoing.
