PCB should not invite foreign teams: Shoaib Akhtar

FAZAL-UR-REHMAN

KARACHI: Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) from inviting foreign teams to play in the country because of the prevailing flimsy security situation.

Akhtar’s serious advice has come at a time when the PCB is desperately trying to host international events in the country.

Pakistan has not hosted international cricket since the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in March 2009.

"Our citizens are not safe and there is a war going on in the country. Therefore, inviting a team in these conditions will be risky," Akhtar said to reporters.

A well known news channel quoted him as saying, “What if any visiting team is attacked again? So, I would recommend to the PCB not to invite foreign teams since the country is not in a position to stage any international event."

Commenting on the PCB’s plan to host the Pakistan Premier League (PPL) on the pattern of the Indian Premier League (IPL), he said, "Seventy-year-old people can’t organise the PPL. The PCB should hire services of foreign consultants instead of aged people for hosting a successful event, if it really wants to organise the PPL."

When asked if he will be making a return to international cricket, he said: "The decision of my retirement is final and I won’t be making any comeback."