The decision infuriated the PCB and sparked calls to boycott the New Zealand team.

Pakistan will not boycott next month’s Twenty20 World Cup match against New Zealand after the Black Caps abruptly and disrespectfully abandoned their tour due to safety fears, the country’s cricket council has said.

The cancellation is a massive setback for Pakistan, which has tried to revive the tours of foreign teams after the suspension of local internationals following a 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.

New Zealand declined to give details of the security threat that forced it to cancel its tour on Friday, just as the first One-Day International was due to start in Rawalpindi.

The decision infuriated the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and sparked calls to boycott the New Zealand team.

However, PCB chief executive Wasim Khan said such action was not being considered.

“At the moment, there is no problem that we are not playing against New Zealand,” Khan said at a virtual press conference.

“We have a duty to the fans and we have to fulfill it. I think we just have to be very careful about the perspective. We don’t want to go down that road by showing any kind of political gesture and posture, and any kind of visible protest. “

Pakistan and New Zealand are scheduled to meet at the Twenty20 World Cup in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates on October 26.

“Political tension”

Khan said the abandonment created “political tensions” in PCB’s relationship with New Zealand Cricket “because the way it was done was disrespectful.”

The three-ODI and five-T20 series would have been the Black Caps’ first games in Pakistan in 18 years and Khan said the withdrawal exposed the inequalities in world cricket.

“We did everything for the other countries, our players sacrificed 14 days of quarantine in New Zealand and went to New Zealand after an attack on the mosque,” Khan said in reference to the March 2019 attack in Christchurch.

“It is easy to leave countries like Pakistan for no reason, without any dialogue and it must stop.”

Attempts to convince Sri Lanka and Bangladesh to surrender for a replacement series have also failed due to logistical hurdles, Khan said.

England and Australia are both expected to play in Pakistan later this year.

Meanwhile, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand Cricket “made the right decision” to withdraw from the tour.

“You will understand why we are not able to give more information on the nature of the intelligence, if not to say that it was a direct threat and that it was a credible threat,” he said. she told reporters on Sunday.