Cricket Australia in Contact With Team After Peshawar Bomb Blast

Cricket Australia is closely monitoring the unfolding security situation after a terrorist suicide bomb attack in a mosque in Peshawar that killed over 50 worshippers earlier today.

The visiting team management is in direct contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs back at home. However, there’s nothing substantial at the moment which suggests that the terror incident will not have any impact on what is Australia’s first tour of Pakistan since 1998.

Cricket Australia has sent a star-studded visiting squad which has been given ‘head-of-state level’ security by Pakistan and as things stand, the entire tour is expected to go through as originally scheduled.

Peshawar is located around two hours away from Rawalpindi where Australia is taking on Pakistan in the first match of a three-match Test series.

The visitors are staying in Islamabad for the Rawalpindi Test. They will play the second and third Test matches at Karachi and Lahore respectively. They will return to Islamabad for a three-match ODI series and a one-off T20I scheduled in Rawalpindi. The Kangaroos will not visit Peshawar this time.

The last time Australia visited Pakistan 24 years ago, both teams had played the second match of the three-match Test series in Peshawar, with Mark Taylor scoring a famous 334 not out. While the match was drawn, Australia won the series 1-0.

Everyone in the national cricketing fraternity, especially the fans, is anxious after what happened in Peshawar and is hoping that the historic Australian tour will be completed as planned.

Pakistani cricket fans are not ready to go through another dark period which started with the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009 and shut the doors of international cricket on Pakistan for several years.

Certainly, Pakistan Cricket Board and Cricket Australia have worked hard to make the visit possible and they must work in tandem once again to ensure the unfortunate incident doesn’t derail the historic tour.