'England was on red alert during CT 2017, still we played' - Mohammad Hafeez after NZC, ECB cancel Pakistan tours

Pakistan all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has fired some shots at the fiasco of tours of Pakistan being cancelled by first, New Zealand and then England. The last few days have been tough to take as far as Pakistan cricket is concerned. New Zealand Cricket (NZC) decided to pull out of their tour hours before the start of their first match. 

A few days later, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) also announced the cancellation of their men’s and women’s team tours of Pakistan in October. The ECB cited the player’s bubble fatigue as a key reason for pulling out. The cancellation has led to massive losses for Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Senior cricketer Hafeez noted that the Pakistan team has faced challenges on several tours but ensured to finish the tour. He did say though, that he understands that New Zealand didn’t leave without any reasons. According to NZC, they had got intelligence of a terror threat in Pakistan, which forced the New Zealand government to advise them to pull out of the tour.

We have always shown a big heart but this decision from New Zealand was very painful: Mohammad Hafeez

“Look, I won’t say New Zealand cancelled the tour without any reasons. I have gone for many tours where we had to face many challenges but despite facing difficulties, we completed tours,” Hafeez told ARYNews. “You ask some team to come and go through 14-day tough quarantine and then play cricket and we still tolerated that because we love this game and we want to continue the game,” Hafeez added.

Going further, Hafeez pointed out an incident that happened during the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 in England. There was an attack in London that had terrified the community, but no teams pulled out of the tournament. Pakistan in fact ended up winning that tournament. 

“We have always shown a big heart but this decision from New Zealand was very painful for a Pakistan fan and for all of us. While playing Champions Trophy 2017 there was a red alert in England so the point is that we go through a lot but we continue with the game however the decision from New Zealand, who didn’t trust Pakistan’s intelligence reports, is very unfortunate,” said Hafeez.