Pakistan’s home 2021-22 international season will commence on Friday 17th September. New Zealand, England, West Indies and Australia are all due to tour.
The first three will only be playing white ball cricket whereas the latter will be engaged in a full-fledged tour across the three different formats. Pakistan’s women’s side will also be hosting England in a T20I and ODI series in the early part of the season.
New Zealand return to Pakistan for the first time in 18 years. They will contest 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is in Rawalpindi and Lahore respectively. The ODI fixtures contribute towards the ICC Cricket World Cup Super League whereas the T20Is lead into the upcoming 7th edition of the ICC T20 World Cup to be hosted by India in the UAE. The Blackcaps will open their T20 World Cup campaign against Pakistan in Sharjah on 26th of October and therefore this series will be useful to accumulate opposition knowledge ahead of that big date.
England will be making a transitional two match T20I stop in Rawalpindi ahead of a longer tour the following year as they return to Pakistan for the first time since 2005. This is a tour outside of the Future Tours Programme and a “goodwill” tour after Pakistan toured England for 8 weeks during the earlier stages of the Covid-19 pandemic to “save the summer” in their 2020 home international summer. It is a precursor to a longer tour the following year, enabling England to gauge the security situation and get comfortable playing international fixtures in Pakistan again. PCB Chief Executive Wasim Khan was of the view that touring in 2022 for a lengthy period of time if there were security reservations would have been tough for the visitors and therefore he extended an invitation to his ECB counterparts for an additional short tour prior to 2022 first, enabling a smooth gradual return for England national teams visiting Pakistan.
Kieron Pollard’s West Indies will arrive in Pakistan in December for 3 ODIs and 3 T20Is. The ODIs again like the New Zealand series, will form part of the ICC World Cup Super League. West Indies missed out on direct qualification for the 2019 World Cup and would want to avoid going through an additional qualifying tournament in Zimbabwe again. Winning an ODI here will certainly help avoid such a scenario. The T20Is here meanwhile will start Pakistan’s build up for the 2022 T20 World Cup to be held in Australia.
Then, we have the Pakistan Super League. This year it will be held earlier than usual in the opening months of the year due to Australia’s visit in March. Could we have a full PSL from start to finish on Pakistani shores this time? There’s yet to be one like that.
Lastly, the highlight of the season. Best for last. Australia will tour Pakistan for the first time in 24 years. They will play Tests, ODIs and T20Is. All will carry great context. The Tests contributing to the World Test Championship, the ODIs contributing to the World Cup Super League and the T20Is running into a T20 World Cup that Australia will host for the first time later in the year. Pakistan haven’t won an ODI series against Australia since 2002 and have currently lost 21 of their last 24 ODIs against them. This tour on home soil offers the hosts the chance to improve that record. Australia also won their previous Test series in Pakistan in 1998 under Mark Taylor. One wonders whether they’ll have retained the urn by the time the tour comes around with a home Ashes series to play between now and then.
Overall, there will be one Test series, three ODI series and four T20I series against four different opponents. With points to score in the World Test Championship and World Cup ODI Super League and preparation for consecutive T20 World Cups in the T20 series, there is no shortage of context for the hosts or visitors.
But perhaps from all these touring parties Pakistan is expecting to host, the biggest statement beyond a security point of view, will be England women touring Pakistan. They are the first high profile women’s team from the western world to tour Pakistan. In the past religious fundamentalism towards women playing cricket has been an obstacle in attracting better ranked sides to play cricket in Pakistan. The fact England’s women’s team is going there is a powerful statement on how far Pakistan society has progressed, in addition to the improvement in the security situation.
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