England’s Pakistan tour cancellation clears IPL roadblock

Someone’s loss is someone’s gain. The saying goes perfectly in the context of the Indian Premier League and the cancellation of England’s tour of Pakistan. The England and Wales Cricket Board, on Monday (September 20), officially announced their decision to pull out of their men’s and women’s tour, which was scheduled in October.

“The ECB Board convened this weekend to discuss these extra England Women’s and Men’s games in Pakistan and we can confirm that the Board has reluctantly decided to withdraw both teams from the October trip,” the ECB statement read.

The development came mere days after New Zealand cancelled their white-ball tour against Pakistan at the last moment owing to security concerns. Visiting them for the first time in 18 years, New Zealand were scheduled to play three ODIs and five T20Is in Pakistan.

Speculations regarding ECB taking a cue from New Zealand and cancelling their tours were rife, and they stood confirmed in three days, leaving Pakistan Cricket Board Chief Ramiz Raja severely disappointed.

“Disappointed with England, pulling out of their commitment and failing a member of their Cricket fraternity when England. Survive we will inshallah. A wake-up call for Pak team to become the best team in the world for teams to line up to play them without making excuses”, he tweeted on September 20.

The happenings come as a serious jolt to Pakistan, who are on their road to resuming cricketing action in the country, which has nearly been at a standstill for the larger part of the last decade in the aftermath of the infamous attack on a team bus of Sri Lanka in Lahore in 2009. Meanwhile, the ECB’s move to quit the series has cleared the only roadblock left for IPL 2021, as the series going on would have meant all of England’s IPL-bound players missing the fag end of the tournament. MS Dhoni’s Chennai Super Kings would have missed both Sam Curran and Moeen Ali from their ranks should they have qualified for the playoffs, while Kolkata Knight Riders were due to miss their skipper Eoin Morgan.

Other England players who were set to miss include Tom Curran, Sam Billings (both Delhi Capitals), Chris Jordan, Adil Rashid (both Punjab Kings), Jason Roy (Sunrisers Hyderabad) and George Garton (RCB). With the series no more in question, all players will continue serving their IPL teams.