GUANGZHOU: Former Pakistan great Javed Miandad has pleaded with foreign teams to tour the troubled Asian nation, saying cricket there is suffering because of the absence of top-level competition.
Pakistan have been forced to play home series overseas because of security fears in the country, where thousands have been killed in suicide attacks and bombings blamed on homegrown Taliban and other Islamist extremist networks.
No foreign side has toured Pakistan since an attack by armed militants on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore last year, which left eight people dead and injured seven visiting players and their assistant coach.
But Miandad, director general of the Pakistan Cricket Board, told AFP that the whole world faced the scourge of terrorism and “nobody can say which place is safe,” arguing that if one team came to Pakistan it might get the ball rolling again.
He said cricket in the country was “going backwards, people are losing their interest”, adding the game needed help and encouragement from other nations. “Pakistan is one of the best cricketing nations. We have been world champions.
The people of Pakistan love cricket, they have passion and they want to see teams come and play,” he said. Miandad said Pakistan was ready to give assurances over safety which he said would be “200 percent” but he added: “Somebody must take the first step”.
“If we give assurances then they should take it because we will be more careful than other countries,” he added. Miandad, at the Asian Games in southern China in his capacity as Pakistan’s cricket ambassador to China, refused to be drawn over allegations of corruption swirling around the Pakistan team.
“Nobody can say anything at the moment,” he said, adding that the investigation into the affair was ongoing and he had confidence in international cricket authorities.
