Ramiz Raja fumes at England's withdrawal from Pakistan tour, says 'they let us down'

The inevitable happened as England called off their Pakistan tour due to security concerns. Pakistan have been a great support for England Cricket Board(ECB) and toured the country during tough times of the pandemic to save their summer. They expected the same favour from England after New Zealand tarnished their image as a safe host by withdrawing from the limited-overs series due to security issues hours before start of the first ODI. However, England cancelled the tour citing that players are reluctant to travel to Pakistan.

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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ramiz Raja is very disappointed with England’s decision to pull out and said that Pakistan will only look after their own interest from now onwards.

"I am severely disappointed in England's withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other. So you can take any decision on the basis of security threat and perception. There was a sense of anger because first New Zealand got away without sharing information about the threat they were facing," ESPNcricinfo quoted Raja as saying.

"Now, this England was expected but this is a lesson for us because we go out of our way to accommodate and pamper these sides when they visit. And when we go there, we undergo strict quarantines and we tolerate their admonishments, but there is a lesson in this. That is, that from now on we will only go as far as is in our interest," he added.

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Raja further said it was the responsibility of the cricket fraternity to support Pakistan during these tough times but they let them down. "Our interest is that cricket will not stop in our country and if the cricket fraternity will not take care of each other then there's no point to it. New Zealand, then England, now we have a West Indies series that can also be hit, and Australia who is already reconsidering. This - England, Australia, New Zealand - is all one block. Who can we complain to? We thought they were our own but they haven't accepted us as theirs."

Raja said Pakistan need to improve their game and expand their cricket economy that these teams remain interested in playing against Pakistan. "We have to improve and expand our cricket economy so that these countries remain interested in playing us. That is in our interests as well so that our players are paid better and we are respected more. They come to the PSL where they don't get spooked or fatigued but collectively they have a different mindset together toward Pakistan," he added.

The former cricketer said that Pakistan will give it back to England and New Zealand in the upcoming T20 World Cup. The Men in Green open their account against India on October 24 in Dubai.