Melbourne: Australia’s cricket team is to go on a tour of Pakistan next month. Veteran Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood feels he will not be surprised if some national team players refuse to tour Pakistan due to security reasons. Australia is to tour Pakistan in March, which will be its first tour of Pakistan in 24 years. The Australian team led by Mark Taylor toured Pakistan in 1998. Even after that Australia has played in Pakistan’s hosting, but those matches took place in the UAE.
Hazlewood told cricket.com.au, “The CA and ACA are doing a lot of work and the players have a lot of confidence but there will definitely be some security concerns.” I won’t be surprised if some players refuse to go to Pakistan. Talking further, he said, ‘There is nothing wrong in this. People will talk to their families and then they will reply. Everyone will respect him.
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As the Sydney Morning Herald reported last month, the Australian cricketers were worried amid the spurt in terror attacks in Pakistan. A source close to the team had said, “We are all worried about it.” The Australian team will play three Tests, three ODIs and one T20 match on the Pakistan tour. All the three Tests are to be held on different grounds but Cricket Australia wants all the matches to be held at the same venue.
After the attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009, no team was afraid to go to Pakistan. Sri Lanka toured there in 2019. After that other teams also went there, but before the T20 World Cup last year, New Zealand refused to play there due to security reasons just before the match. After that England also canceled their tour.