PAKISTAN cricket has been jolted with two body blows in the last four days after New Zealand and England backed out from playing bilateral series in the Asian country. Back on September 17, the Black Caps abandoned their tour moments before the start of the first ODI at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

The visitors cited ‘security concerns’ as a reason for their withdrawal from the tour.

On Monday, the England cricket team backed off from their tour of Pakistan in the month of October. The England men’s and women’s teams were scheduled to take part in ODI and T20I series.

However, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) released a statement, mentioning that the teams won’t be travelling to Pakistan next month.

Amidst the chaos, in a tweet Pakistan Information Minister Fawad Chadhury said yesterday that Pakistan will be consulting legal experts for actions against NZC and ECB. He stated that Pakistan will make consultations with the lawyers to take appropriate action against them. Cricket.com reported.

Last Saturday, the New Zealand players returned to their home country after the PCB arranged a chartered flight for them. PCB chief executive Wasim Khan also showed his agony over the turn of events in Pakistan cricket.

Earlier, Ramiz Raja, the chairman of the PCB, was devastated after the Black Caps and the Three Lions pulled out from their respective series. He also lashed out at cricket’s ‘western bloc’ for the developments in the last few days.

“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. 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,” Raja said.

“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,” he added. (CricTracker)