England Tour of Pakistan delayed until September/October 2021

England’s much-anticipated visit to Pakistan will be delayed at least until September or October 2021. The cricket series was expected to happen in January 2021.

England would have only managed to send a C team to Pakistan due to their different other match commitments. Their Test squad will engage in January with cricket series in Sri Lanka and India. While a major contingent of their limited-overs cricketers would be in Australia for the forthcoming Big Bash League.

In such a situation, they would not have had the option to send their strongest team to Pakistan. England team is visiting Pakistan after 15 years gap, and thus the teams chose to postpone the cricket series as both cricket boards agreed that such a notable event justified a full-strength England squad.

The absence of a star England cricketer is another reason for postponing the series

The report additionally expressed that the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had doubts about devaluing international caps by granting them to players who may be viewed as third or fourth choices.

As much as the budget for the tour is concerned, it would have been around £800,000. The report further added that England was planning to arrange a practice camp in the UAE and employing a charter flight for the team. The tour of Pakistan would have lasted 96 hours, as the idea was to play two or three cricket games in Karachi in that period.

The absence of big names in the English camp may have had a knock-on impact on the estimation of the broadcasting deal in Pakistan. Both teams are currently prone to use the delayed cricket series as preparation for the T20 World Cup, which India will host in October and November.

While England is booked to visit Pakistan in 2022 for a Test cricket series, PCB needed them to visit sooner. It was for attaining ECB's support for the arrival of international cricket to the nation.

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