West Indies T20 tour of Pakistan “likely” to be postponed
The proposed historic three-match Twenty20 series between West Indies and Pakistan scheduled for later this month in Pakistan, is now unlikely to occur before after March next year.
A Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official told the Pakistan media on Monday that the series was expected to be postponed because of an issue with smog in Lahore where the games were scheduled, and the commitment of leading West Indies players to the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL).
Smog and other reasons
“The PCB and the West Indies Cricket Board had agreed that West Indies will tour Pakistan in November, but now the series is unlikely to happen because of the smog and some other reasons,” a senior PCB official told Dawn News.
The “other reasons” refer to the unavailability of several West Indies players as the Pakistan series, scheduled for late November clashes with the BPL, which started last weekend and wraps up December 12.
West Indies T20 captain Carlos Brathwaite, off-spinner Sunil Narine and batsmen Marlon Samuels, Kieron Pollard and Evin Lewis, are all playing for various franchises in the T20 tournament.
Additionally, West Indies are set to embark on a two-Test tour of New Zealand later this month, followed by a three-match one-day series and a three-match T20 series which starts late December and runs until January 3.
According to the PCB source, the meteorological officials were unable to say when the heavy smog over Lahore would ease.
Smog over Lahore is at all-time worst, creating visibility issues especially at night. With the floodlights at the Gaddafi Stadium having failed once in a match during the World XI series last September, the PCB believes proceeding with the Windies series in heavy smog could prove problematic.
Huge blow to PCB
News of the postponement will be a huge blow for the PCB. They were using the proposed tour as part of their campaign to have international cricket returned to Pakistan after a long break, due to the country’s volatile security situation.
Last month Sri Lanka played the final T20 of their three-match series in Lahore after the first two contests were hosted in United Arab Emirates. The Windies tour would have represented the first full bilateral series to be played in Pakistan in eight years, since militants attacked a Sri Lankan team bus en-route to the Gaddafi Stadium.
For more on the Windies, click the link: Windies opening batsman saves the day
