Raja vows revenge for Pakistan after England cancel tour amid safety concerns

Pakistan’s cricket board chairman Ramiz Raja has hit out at England’s decision to cancel their upcoming tour and vowed to avenge the situation ‘on the ground.’

England pulled out of the planned men’s and women’s tour scheduled to take place next month on Monday, over ‘increasing concerns about travelling to the region.’

The announcement comes just days after New Zrealand also decided to abandon their tour of Pakistan, after being alerted to a ‘specific and credible threat’ made towards them.

But despite the reasons given by both countries, Raja is less than happy with the decision.

‘I am severely disappointed in England’s withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other,’ he said.

‘So you can take any decision on the basis of security threat and perception. There was a sense of anger because first New Zealand got away without sharing information about the threat they were facing.

‘Now, this [England] was expected but this is a lesson for us because we go out of our way to accommodate and pamper these sides when they visit. And when we go there, we undergo strict quarantines and we tolerate their admonishments, but there is a lesson in this. That is, that from now on we will only go as far as is in our interest.

‘Our interest is that cricket will not stop in our country and if the cricket fraternity will not take care of each other then there’s no point to it. New Zealand, then England, now we have a West Indies series that can also be hit, and Australia who is already reconsidering.

‘This – England, Australia, New Zealand – is all one block. Who can we complain to? We thought they were our own but they haven’t accepted us as theirs.’

Raja, who played 57 Tests for Pakistan, has urged the current crop of players to use the cancellation to spur them on in the upcoming T20 World Cup.

‘We have to improve and expand our cricket economy so that these countries remain interested in playing us.’ he added.

‘That is in our interests as well so that our players are paid better and we are respected more. They come to the PSL where they don’t get spooked or fatigued but collectively they have a different mindset together toward Pakistan.

‘We go in the [T20] World Cup now and where we had one team in our target – our neighbours [India], they now add two more teams – New Zealand and England. So pick up the strength and develop a mindset that we are not going to lose because you didn’t do right by us with us and we will avenge that in the ground.’

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