"We are quietly confident at the moment" – Wasim Khan on possibility of England tour

The chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board spoke to outline the current state of play after it was revealed on Thursday evening in an ECB statement that talks were underway for a first England tour of Pakistan since 2005

Wasim Khan is “quietly confident” that England will tour Pakistan for a short T20I series in January 2021.

The chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board spoke to outline the current state of play after it was revealed on Thursday evening in an ECB statement that talks were underway.

The proposed plan would see England's Test team travel to Sri Lanka and a white-ball squad play in Pakistan, simultaneously.

It would act as a thank you from England to Pakistan, who fulfilled their Test and T20 tour this summer despite the Covid-19 pandemic, while also bringing to an end a long period since they last visited the country – England’s most recent tour of Pakistan took place in 2005.

“There was no deal struck when we went over to England [about a return trip],” said Khan. “We are quietly confident at the moment. We will support the ECB in all their assessments and in everything they need to do to get that series on in January.

“I wrote to them on October 12 on behalf of the PCB, inviting them to Pakistan. There was a statement from the ECB yesterday, acknowledging that we’ve written to them. I’m just waiting for the formal response to come back; within that, it will talk about what the next steps are, which will be Covid assessments, security assessments – all of those kinds of things that need to be ticked off.

“But there’s a huge will from the ECB to come and do this. They know the importance of this for the global game, but also for cricket in Pakistan.”

^{Wasim Khan wrote to the ECB on October 12 to formally invite England to Pakistan}

An ECB statement read: “As with any proposed tour that takes place at this time, the safety and welfare of our players and staff is paramount. 

“As such, there are a number of factors that need to be taken into consideration, including the proposed protocols in relation to Covid-19 bio-secure bubbles, the proposed levels of security around the team, as well as the feasibility of undertaking this tour against the backdrop of an already busy schedule of international cricket for the England men’s team. 

“We will be liaising with the PCB, and as well as other partners over the coming weeks to work through these considerations before a final decision will be taken in due course.”

Zimbabwe and South Africa are both set to tour Pakistan ahead of England’s proposed trip; officials from Zimbabwe have just completed an exploratory visit, with Cricket South Africa set to follow in the first week of November.

Khan explained: “The important thing is that England and countries such as that have a huge infrastructure where it’s very easy to implement huge bio-secure programmes at every single level.

“I think what we’ve tried to do is learn from what England did, try to work out exactly what we are capable of doing with the infrastructure that we have to make sure that we can satisfy Zimbabwe, satisfy South Africa and ultimately England as well, when they come to do their recce around the bio-security.

“This is testament to what we’re trying to put in place; it’s worked very well for the National T20, we’ve got the women’s camps going on; Under-19s camps going on. There’s a lot of cricket going on. Zimbabwe have just done their recce tour; South Africa are arriving for their recce tour in the first week in November. All things are moving nicely.”

PCB CEO Wasim Khan shares his thoughts on the potential England tour and its impact on future Pakistan cricket.#NationalT20Cup | #HarHaalMainCricket pic.twitter.com/ka5l2QFIrv

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 16, 2020

Professional cricket in Pakistan was halted after the Lahore terrorist attack in 2009, with many of the men and women's matches taking place in the United Arab Emirates.

The international game resumed in 2017 when Sri Lanka played a T20 before they came back two years later for the first Test in a decade.

Bangladesh then played three T20s and a Test earlier this year, before the PSL was scheduled entirely in the country for the first time, prior to its suspension due to the pandemic.

“When people said: ‘Is it safe?’, my response has always been that it’s as safe as anywhere else in the world,” Khan added. “We saw what happened in Sri Lanka about a year ago, we’ve seen what happened in New Zealand. Most places around the world now, you’re going to have your good spots, you have your bad spots.

“A huge amount of work has happened here in Pakistan over a long period of time to clean the country up, clean the whole security element. We have evidence now over a period of time right back form 2105 onwards that the security operation we put in place is second to none.

“I think it was Shane Watson who tweeted after he left the PSL, saying: ‘Pakistan is as safe as anywhere in the world to play cricket.’ I think that’s certainly the message we’re getting across to teams we’re going to host in the future.”

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