Former Pakistan fast bowler Shoiab Akhtar, who is known to not mince words and speak his heart and mind, came down severely on New Zealand Cricket (NZC) after the latter cancelled the whole Pakistan tour minutes before the start of the first ODI in Rawalpindi in Friday, September 17.
After a security alert from the New Zealand government and escalation in the threat levels, NZC decided to call off the tour.
Taking to Twitter after the same, Akhtar wrote, "NZ just killed Pakistan cricket."
Akhtar further added that Pakistan stood strong with New Zealand when nine Pakistanis were killed in the Christchurch attack while saying that it was an unverified threat and it could have been discussed.
"This was just an unverified threat, it could have been discussed. Prime Minister Imran Khan personally spoke to his NZ counterpart and assured but it was still refused. Pakistan has safely hosted South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe & PSL," he further added.
Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan spoke to New Zealand counterpart Jacinda Ardern before the cancellation of the tour assuring they have the best intelligence systems in the world and there was no security threat but the visitors went ahead with the abandonment. After which, many international cricketers, former Pakistan players, PCB expressed their disappointment on the same.
New Zealand were touring Pakistan for the first time in 18 years and now the last-minute cancellation has put future tours to Pakistan in jeopardy as England, who are to come to Pakistan for two T20Is before the T20 World Cup have now asked for two days' time to take a call on the same.
