The

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

toured Pakistan in September and October 2021, and were scheduled to play three

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

(ODI) and five

Twenty20 International A Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of cricket, played between two of the international members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), in which each team faces a maximum of twenty overs. The matches have top-class status and are the ...

(T20I) matches. It was New Zealand's first tour of Pakistan since 2003. However, on the morning of the first ODI match,

New Zealand Cricket New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand. New Zealand Cricket operates the New Z ...

(NZC) raised a security alert with the

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan national cricket team. A member of the International Cricket Coun ...

(PCB) and the Pakistan Government, which resulted in the entire tour being called off. In December 2021, both cricket boards agreed to play a set of extra fixtures in Pakistan in April 2023 to make up for the postponed tour, following New Zealand's tour of Pakistan in December 2022.

Background

On 4 August 2021, the PCB confirmed the schedule for the tour. The ODIs were scheduled to take place at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, and the T20Is would have taken place at the

Gaddafi Stadium Gaddafi Stadium ( ur, , translit=Qaẕẕāfī Isṭeḍiyam), previously known as Lahore Stadium is a cricket stadium in Lahore, Pakistan and the home ground of Lahore Qalandars. It is owned by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). With a capacit ...

Lahore Lahore ( ; pnb, ; ur, ) is the second most populous city in Pakistan after Karachi and 26th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 13 million. It is the capital of the province of Punjab where it is the largest city. ...

. Tom Latham was named as New Zealand's captain, with

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand cricketer who is currently the Captain (cricket), captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, New Zealand national team in limited overs cricket. He is considered as New Zealand' ...

being unavailable due to him playing in the rescheduled phase of the

2021 Indian Premier League The 2021 Indian Premier League, also known as IPL 14, or for sponsorship reasons, Vivo IPL 2021, was the fourteenth season of the Indian Premier League (IPL), a professional Twenty20 cricket league established by the Board of Control for Cric ...

. After the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, several New Zealand players reportedly expressed concerns about touring Pakistan. On 18 August,

announced that its players would have the right to pull out of the tour if they "felt uneasy about touring Pakistan even if the tour went ahead". The ODI series was originally scheduled to form part of the inaugural 2020–23 ICC Cricket World Cup Super League. However, in September 2021 it was announced that due to the unavailability of the

Decision Review System The Decision Review System (DRS), formerly known as the Umpire Decision Review System (UDRS), is a technology-based system used in cricket to assist the match officials in their decision-making. On-field Umpire (cricket), umpires may choose to co ...

(DRS), the ODI matches would be a standalone bilateral series. The World Cup Super League matches were rescheduled for New Zealand's tour of Pakistan in 2022–23.

Reactions and aftermath

Newly-appointed PCB Chairman

Ramiz Raja Ramiz Hasan Raja ( ur, ; born 14 August 1962) is a Pakistani cricket administrator, commentator, YouTuber, and former cricketer who served as the 35th Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board between September 2021 and December 2022. As a pla ...

expressed his disappointment on

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

and said that "New Zealand will hear us at ICC". Former Pakistan fast bowler

Shoaib Akhtar Shoaib Akhtar (; ; born 13 August 1975) is a Pakistani former cricketer and commentator. Nicknamed the "Rawalpindi Express", he was the first bowler to be recorded bowling at 100 miles per hour, a feat he achieved twice in his career. Ak ...

also reacted on New Zealand's decision to pull out of the series and said "New Zealand just killed Pakistan cricket". Pakistan's team captain

Babar Azam Mohammad Babar Azam (Urdu, pa, ; born 15 October 1994), is a Pakistani international cricketer and captain of the Pakistan national cricket team in all formats. Regarded as one of the finest batters in contemporary world cricket, he is the o ...

also took to Twitter to express his displeasure over the cancellation of the series, saying he was "extremely disappointed" and stated that he has the full trust in Pakistan's security agencies. The New Zealand cricket board chief executive David White said in a statement that they had no choice but to call off the tour of Pakistan. White later said that "there was no way we could stay in the country" following the advice they were given, but also thanked the PCB for their professionalism. Former New Zealand all-rounder

Grant Elliott Grant David Elliott (born 21 March 1979) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a batting all-rounder, Elliott contributed a man of the match performance to provide entrance to New Zealand's first ever ...

also reacted to the news and said, "Sad news for players and fans". On 20 September 2021, the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the Sports governing body, national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and ...

(ECB) announced that both their men's and

women's A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

tours to the country in October 2021 had been cancelled, citing issues around wellbeing and concerns of travelling to the region.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, which are also scheduled to tour Pakistan in 2022, said that said they are monitoring the situation and will "talk with the relevant authorities once more information becomes known."

Squads

Usman Qadir Usman Qadir ( ur, ; born 10 August 1993) is a Pakistani cricketer. He was part of the bronze medal-winning team at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China. He made his international debut for the Pakistan cricket team in November 2020. Persona ...

Shahnawaz Dahani Shahnawaz Dahani (, ur, شاہنواز دہانی; born 5 August 1998) is a Pakistani cricketer who made his international debut for the Pakistan national cricket team in November 2021. He made his Twenty20 debut on 23 February 2021 in the 2021, ...

and Fakhar Zaman were named as travelling reserves in Pakistan's T20I squad. Ahead of the tour Pakistan's Mohammad Nawaz tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. Pakistan named a squad of twenty players for the ODI series, with twelve of those being selected for the first match. New Zealand's

Tom Blundell Sir Thomas Leon Blundell, (born 7 July 1942) is a British biochemist, structural biologist, and science administrator. He was a member of the team of Dorothy Hodgkin that solved in 1969 the first structure of a protein hormone, insulin. Blun ...

was ruled out of the ODI series due to an injury, with Daryl Mitchell named as his replacement.

ODI series

1st ODI

2nd ODI

3rd ODI

T20I series

1st T20I

2nd T20I

3rd T20I

4th T20I

5th T20I

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand cricket team in Pakistan in 2021-22 2021 in Pakistani cricket 2021 in New Zealand cricket International cricket competitions in 2021–22 New Zealand cricket tours of Pakistan Cancelled cricket competitions