Earlier last week, in a dramatic turnaround ahead of their first ODI match against Pakistan, New Zealand cancelled their historic white-ball tour citing security reasons. Former Pakistan captain Wasim Akram has now reacted to the Blackcaps abandoning the tour and has expressed his disappointment on the same.
"I think the world underestimates how powerful our security forces are. Cricket is more than a sport to us and we will do everything in our power to prevent cricket (from) being taken from us again. The world needs to give us a chance to prove that!," Akram tweeted on Sunday.
The former left-handed bowler further added that the Pakistan forces have made the country one of the safest places in the world to play cricket. This tour would have been NZ's first in 18 years in the subcontinental national and could have paved away the roadmap for other countries to visit Pakistan.
"Extremely disappointed in NZ choice to abandon the #PAKvNZ tour. Pakistan has proven that our security measures for international games is of the highest order, making Pakistan one of the safest places in the world to play cricket today. I feel we are not hearing the whole story," Akram said.
The two sides were slated to play three ODIs and five T20Is. While the ODIs were scheduled to take place in Rawalpindi, the T20Is had to be played in Lahore. With NZ's cancellation of the trip, teams like England have put their own tour under scanner and it is expected that they will try to force a move out as well.
Pakistan have been one of the busiest touring teams in the pandemic and have played several series away from home. The conversation in recent months had been about the countries extending their gratitude by touring Pakistan, but the NZ pullout would be a huge dampener on the plans.