Kumar Sangakkara wants England and Australia to tour Pakistan

Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) President Kumar Sangakkara has said that Australia and England must tour Pakistan to facilitate international cricket in the country.

Talking to an international sports channel, former Sri Lanka captain said, “It doesn’t matter an Asian side going there or a second side in terms of world prominence when it comes to having security measures in place.”

He further said, “I think it’s important that England or Australia, even South Africa, make up their minds to actually tour when security is assured and they have those discussions; the MCC tour will be a precursor to that.”

Top teams have shunned Pakistan since the 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lanka team, which included Sangakkara, in Lahore in which six players were injured and eight Pakistanis, including six policemen, were killed.

However, Sangakkara returned to Pakistan as part of the MCC team in February this year. But still, the top teams have not toured Pakistan despite the likes of Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh playing all formats against the Green Army.

Notably, in December, Pakistan played their first Test match on home soil since 2009 when they hosted Sri Lanka in Karachi, while Bangladesh also played a Test match in Rawalpindi in February.

Bangladesh split their tour in three parts even though the final leg was called off in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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