Reports | Few Sri Lankan cricketers unwilling to tour Pakistan for limited-over series
According to reports, few Sri Lankan cricketers are unwilling to travel to Pakistan for a limited-over series for three each of ODIs and T20Is to be held in September and October this year. The reports mentions wicket-keeper Niroshan Dickwella and all-rounder Thisara Perera among others.
The first leg of Sri Lanka’s tour of Pakistan – which includes the three ODIs and three T20Is – is scheduled to be held in the coming two months in Pakistan. The two Tests of the tour will be played in the UAE later after Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) turned down Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) request to hold the games in Pakistan.
However, according to a report on the website of Pakistan's Urdu news channel Express News, Dickwella and Perera are not willing to participate in the tour. The report suggested that even more players were willing to refrain from the tour though their names weren’t mentioned. It is understood that both Dickwella and Perera want to feature in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), which will run between September 4 and October 12, and have also sought permission from the SLC for the same.
After the infamous terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009, most of the international teams have boycotted playing any matches in the country. Pakistan, meanwhile, has hosted all their international matches – even a majority of their T20 league – in the UAE. Zimbabwe toured Pakistan in 2015, while West Indies and Sri Lanka played there during the 2017-18 season.
