After the unexpected and contentious decision to postpone this year’s tour on security reasons, New Zealand Cricket scheduled back-to-back tours of Pakistan next season on Monday.
New Zealand officials announced that the Black Caps will tour Pakistan from December 2022 to January 2023 to play two World Test Championship matches and three one-day internationals.
In April, the world’s number two Test squad will play five one-day internationals and five Twenty20 matches in Pakistan.
New Zealand sparked a diplomatic snafu in September when it canceled a series in Pakistan just as the first one-dayer was set to begin in Rawalpindi.
With no information regarding the nature of the threat, the team hurriedly fled the country. Soon after, England canceled their own Pakistan tour.
Sheikh Rasheed Ahmad, Pakistan’s interior minister at the time, was adamant that “no threat to cricket in Pakistan, no threat to New Zealand, and no threat to England” existed.
The cancellations were a major loss for Pakistan, which has struggled to bring foreign teams back after home internationals were stopped in 2009 following a fatal terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan Test team.
Ramiz Raja, Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, expressed his delight at the news. “This represents the two cricket boards’ strong, amicable, and longstanding relations,” he said.
“This move reaffirms Pakistan’s role as a vital member of the cricket brotherhood,” he said. The match dates are yet to be revealed.
