Joe Root, the England cricket team Test skipper, has said he would love to visit Pakistan in the near future for a series.
Pakistan’s visit to England for three Tests and three T20Is in the height of the coronavirus pandemic has received immense praise. The first Test was competitive as England were rescued by a partnership between Chris Woakes and Jos Buttler and England scraped home in Old Trafford in a thriller. The second game was ruined by rain and bad light and the focus now is on the third Test at the Rose Bowl in Southampton. With Pakistan coming to England in times of a crisis, former players and analysts have said the England Cricket Board (ECB) now owe it to Pakistan and West Indies to help them as well in these tough times.
Joe Root, the Test skipper, expressed his desire that he would love to visit Pakistan for a series but admitted the final decision did not rest with him. “I’d love to go and visit Pakistan. It would be a great opportunity to go and play there personally. Unfortunately, it’s not my decision to make, but it looks a wonderful country to go and play cricket in. The wickets look nice and flat, which will be a nice change to what we have just played on here,” Root said.
The England skipper point out how emotional the Pakistan players were when Test cricket came back on their shores after a long time. “You could see the emotion of everyone back in Pakistan when Test cricket was there back-end of last year. Also, speaking to a few of the players, how much it meant to them as well and they really appreciated being able to playback in Pakistan too. We`ve such a busy schedule already with backlogging due to COVID, it will be interesting to see how that would work,” Root said.
Pakistan back to normal
England have not toured Pakistan ever since 2005/06 in a Test series which they lost 0-2. However, following the deadly terror attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team on March 1, 2009, foreign teams refused to tour Pakistan due to security issues. In that period, Pakistan had to play their games at away venues like the UAE and New Zealand.
However, Zimbabwe made a tour there in 2015 and it was followed by visits by the West Indies and ICC World XI. Poignantly, it was Sri Lanka who ended Pakistan’s home isolation when they decided to travel for two Tests in Rawalpindi and Karachi. The visit by the Sri Lanka team was followed by the Bangladesh team. There is hope that more teams will follow suit and tour Pakistan in the near future once the coronavirus pandemic subsides.
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