Australia to tour Pakistan for all-format series in March 2022

Australia will tour Pakistan for three Tests, three ODIs and a one-off T20I between March 3 to April 5, 2022, in what will be their first tour of the Asian nation in 24 years. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed the development on November 8. The series will start with the first Test in Karachi, followed by the second encounter in Rawalpindi, while the remainder of the series will be held in Lahore.

Australia last toured Pakistan in 1998, when the two teams played three Tests and as many ODIs, both of which Australia won. Ever since then, multiple tours have been cancelled owing to different reasons. Australia’s 2002 tour was moved out after a suicide bombing attack in Karachi, while the 2008 tour was jeopardized in the wake of violence before general elections in Pakistan.

Following that was the infamous attack on a travelling Sri Lanka team in Lahore in 2009, which threw international cricket in Pakistan into tatters. However, the system has been resurrected, with Pakistan having hosted Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and South Africa in recent times, apart from the successful conduction of the Pakistan Super League, involving multiple foreign players.

Australia’s approval to tour Pakistan comes at a time when two premium nations – New Zealand and England – only recently pulled out of their tours. New Zealand, touring Pakistan after 18 years, cancelled their tour moments before the start of the series in Rawalpindi citing security threat, while England, set to travel Pakistan after 16 years, pulled out of their men’s and women’s tour only days later, naming bio-bubble fatigue and players’ mental health as the reason behind.

The last-moment cancellations left the newly-appointed PCB chief Ramiz Raja severely disappointed and irked, which he expressed in a series of tweets later. Meanwhile, before Australia, Pakistan will host West Indies for three T20Is and as many ODIs from December 13 to 22 in Karachi, as was confirmed by the Cricket West Indies earlier this week.

Pakistan vs Australia tour itinerary

March 3-7: First Test, Karachi

March 12-16: Second Test, Rawalpindi

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

March 29: First ODI, Lahore

March 31: Second ODI, Lahore

April 2: Third ODI, Lahore

April 5: Only T20, Lahore