New Zealand have ‘killed Pakistan cricket’: Shoaib Akhtar

Former speedster Shoaib Akhtar believes that New Zealand have “killed Pakistan cricket” by abandoning their first tour of Pakistan in 18 years.

Akhtar shared his disappointment in a tweet on his official Twitter account.

NZ just killed Pakistan cricket 😡😡

— Shoaib Akhtar (@shoaib100mph) September 17, 2021

The Rawalpindi Express also stated that this decision by New Zealand Cricket will greatly affect Pakistan cricket.

“New Zealand cricket team has been in Islamabad for the past four to five days and they were staying under foolproof security. But all of a sudden they took this decision after getting some intelligence reports. These security alerts are always there but you have to trust Pakistan as one of the safe heavens in the world. Our ISI and law enforcement agencies are working relentlessly to ensure peace,” Akhtar, later, said on his YouTube channel.

“They should have trusted our intelligence and not embarrass us like this. It would have been better if you had decided against touring Pakistan altogether. Leaving the tour like this will give bad name to Pakistan. Security threat is everywhere in the world so you should have trusted our security system,” he added.

Akhtar also sympathised with newly-appointed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja.

“Pakistan cricket is in a bad state right now…my heart goes out to PCB. Ramiz Raja has just come but he has faced such a massive glitch, my heart goes out to him too. I can see some bad times for Pakistan ahead,” he said.

The former right-armer also urged the Men in Green to win the T20 World Cup as a response to this embarrassment.

“It’s time to turn this embarrassment into courage and win the T20 World Cup. We should be focused on that now,” he concluded.

New Zealand on Friday abandoned their limited-overs series in Pakistan after receiving a security alert, the PCB said.

New Zealand officials had informed the PCB that they were “unilaterally suspending” all their scheduled matches in Pakistan, the PCB said in a statement.

The series was scheduled to begin on Friday in Rawalpindi.