NZ reach Pakistan after 18 years

New Zealand cricket team reached Pakistan on Saturday in a chartered flight from Bangladesh after losing the five-match Twenty20 international series 3-2.

The blackcaps arrival in Pakistan is their first tour in 18 years, with batting coach Thilan Samaraweera returning to the country where he was shot in 2009 while playing for Sri Lanka. Samaraweera was travelling with the Sri Lankan team on a bus attacked by militants near the Gadaffi Stadium in Lahore in 2009.

New Zealand’s last tour of Pakistan was in 2003. This time they have arrived to play three One-Day Internationals and five T20Is.

Previously, the three-match ODI series was part of the ICC World Cup super league, a qualification process for the 2023 World Cup. But due to the unavailability of DRS, both boards have agreed to convert it to only a bilateral series.

The series will be rescheduled in the 2022-23 season, said the PCB statement.

The Blackcaps were taken to their hotel in a bullet-proof bus.

Before leaving Dhaka, Tom Latham told the media about his excitement about the Pakistan tour.

“It’s obviously very pleasing for Pakistan as a nation to have international cricket back and back there they’ve had a couple of series in recent times, and obviously, this is another one. So, for us, it’s just about going there and trying to adapt to conditions like we’ve done here and see what we get. So, another opportunity for the group and they’re all looking forward to it,” Latham told the media from Dhaka, before leaving for Pakistan.

In the last six years, Pakistan have hosted Zimbabwe, South Africa, Bangladesh, West Indies and Sri Lanka as has security improved in the country.