Pakistan will play three T20 matches against World XI. (Source: AP)
Former England skipper Paul Collingwood, who will be one of the players who will feature in World XI against Pakistan, in his column for ICC wrote that the upcoming series would help Pakistan revive international cricket in the country.
“There are lots of reasons why I’m looking forward to playing in the World XI T20 tour of Lahore. Hopefully this can be a significant step in helping Pakistan host international fixtures again after eight years of playing in other countries, including their home series in the United Arab Emirates and England,” Collingwood wrote.
Talking about Pakistan cricket team, the right-hander insisted that it must have been “frustrating” for the players to play away from home for so many years.
“Playing away from their home would have done nothing to help them improve their game in the long-term and it must have been so frustrating.”
Collingwood also mentioned about his plans during the tour and suggested ,”Time is limited and the security will be high, so unfortunately we won’t be able to do the tourist things I did when I went there 12 years ago and we understand that. We’ve got ‘Head of State’ security, which I’ve been involved with in India after the Mumbai attacks and also in Bangladesh last year.”
“I’m just looking forward to playing three really competitive games of cricket and for it to be as normal as possible,” he said.
Pakistan were barred from hosting international matches after the Sri Lankan team was attacked by gunmen during their tour in 2009. Since, Pakistan have only hosted Zimbabwe for a bilateral series in 2015.
“Trying to help Pakistan is important for cricket – and no-one can pretend the money isn’t great – but, added to that, playing them in their own back yard also really floated my boat.”
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