Karachi: Pakistan cricket suffered another major setback today when Cricket Zimbabwe called off its much hyped tour to Pakistan in the wake of another terrorist attack in the country on Wednesday.
The Cricket Zimbabwe decision came one day after the deadly attack on members of the Ismaili community in Karachi on Wednesday in which 46 people were killed.
Zimbabwe, which was due to reach Lahore on May 19 conveyed its decision to the Pakistan Cricket Board after consulting its government and security experts following the terrorist incident.
A source in the PCB told PTI that Cricket Zimbabwe had officially informed the PCB about the cancellation.
While the PCB clearly reeling from this setback offered no comments to the development but Pakistan s former captain turned commentator, Rameez Raja termed the decision by Cricket Zimbabwe as most unfortunate.
They have taken a hasty decision in my view and it is not the right decision, he said.
The former captain said that the PCB and government had taken many steps to create a safe environment to play international cricket in Pakistan.
Pakistan s former captain, Muhammad Yousuf termed the Zimbabwe decision as another damaging setback for Pakistan cricket.
"I was fearful of this happening once the incident happened in Karachi. It is very disappointing because we were all looking forward to having an international team in Pakistan," he said.
Another former captain, Rashid Latif said he could understand the apprehensions of the Zimbabwe board but the PCB should still not give up hope and reschedule the tour for later on.
Earlier today, a PCB official source had admitted that after the deadly incident in Karachi the outside world could have renewed apprehensions about the security situation in Karachi.
After Cricket Zimbabwe expressed reservations about playing in Karachi the PCB dropped the idea of having two matches in the southern port city where the incident took place on Wednesday morning and it had scheduled all matches in Lahore including two T20 games and three ODIs.
Cricket Zimbabwe s CEO Alaister Campbell accompanied a high level security experts team from South Africa to Lahore this month to review arrangements for the Zimbabwe team.
Although across the board Pakistan s cricket community had welcomed the return of international cricket to Pakistan but former test leg-spinner, Abdul Qadir said at a function in Lahore the other day that he didn t think it was advisable to invite any foreign team at this time.
Qadir said that the security situation in Pakistan at the moment was not stable and not conducive for international cricket.
