England owe Pakistan a reciprocal tour in 2022, says Akram

Southampton, Aug 17 (IANS) Wasim Akram has said that England owe Pakistan a reciprocal tour after Azhar Ali's men travelled for three-Test series to the United Kingdom amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.Pakistan are currently involved in the Test series in England following which the two teams will contest in three T20Is as well. "You boys owe Pakistan cricket, and the country, a lot, with the boys coming over here. They've been here almost two and half months in the bio-secure environment," Akram told Sky Sports Cricket."So if everything goes well, England should tour Pakistan."I promise you they'll get looked after on and off the field there and every game will be a packed house," he added.England have not toured Pakistan since 2005-06 over security concerns following the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore. The Three Lions are, however, scheduled to tour the country in 2022. Akram further said that English players have enjoyed their time in the Pakistan Super League and hopes a full international tour will follow."The English players were there for the Pakistan Super League in our team, Karachi Kings - Alex Hales and Chris Jordan. They loved it, they enjoyed it, they got looked after beautifully, so the PSL is a step in the right direction," the former Pakistan skipper said. "There is a lot more to see in Pakistan than cricket and players might be frustrated staying in the hotels all the time but hopefully next year we can let them go out to cinemas and shopping centres, while there is also a lot of history in Pakistan," he added.
--IANS aak/