Expressing concerns and sympathies for the Pakistan Cricket Board, former England skipper Michael Atherton has said that they suffered a huge financial loss over the decade due to inability to play against India in bilateral series.
India and Pakistan have not played a bilateral series since January 2013, where Pakistan visited their neighbours for two T20Is and three ODIs. They haven’t played a Test series since 2007-08 season.
“Pakistan’s inability to play India in bilateral events has cost them hundreds of millions of dollars in the past decade, or how being in exile in the UAE for nearly a decade cost significant amounts of financial and psychological capital,” Atherton wrote in his column for The Times.
“When England have pulled out of tours to South Africa, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and when Australia have played no Test matches away from home since the pandemic began, Pakistan have travelled all over the world (and, remember, there are no touring fees paid to the visitors these days). Pakistan have played the most number of matches away from home since Covid struck, by some distance,” he said.
Both countries face each other only in Asia Cups and ICC events and the 2019 World Cup saw the most recent clash between them.
Recently, England and New Zealand cancelled their white-ball tours to Pakistan owing to security concerns.
