England landed in Pakistan on Saturday for a historic Test tour to the country. Before the T20 World Cup 2022, the England white-ball team defeated Babar Azam’s side 4-3 in a 7-match T20I bilateral series in Pakistan, and then also in the final of the tournament in Australia.
This is now a different ball game – literally – as Ben Stokes leads the spirited England Test team which turned a chapter in England’s Test history under the new captain Stokes and new head coach Brendon McCullum with their ‘Bazball’.
In the home summer earlier this year, England white-washed New Zealand 3-0, defeated India in the Edgbaston Test and defeated South Africa 2-1.
Pakistan will look to bounce back in Test cricket after some disappointing results. They lost the 3-Test series at home to Pat Cummins Australia by 1-0, and then drew 1-1 in Sri Lanka.
There have, however, been security concerns that could have even put England’s tour under threat after former Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot in his leg in East Punjab province when he was traveling to Islamabad for a campaign.
There were reports of the first Test match being shifted away from Rawalpindi because Imran Khan is scheduled to take a protest march to the capital city, Islamabad, which is situated close to the Rawalpindi stadium.
England captain Ben Stokes, though, has said that they have been given security assurances with their security advisor Reg Dickason assessing all the security arrangements.
Ben Stokes admitted there had been concerns after Imran Khan was shot, but is now not worried.
“It’s been a long time since England have played Test cricket in Pakistan. With what happened with Imran Khan recently, there was a little bit of concern, but we have Reg Dickason, who has been the security man for many years with England, and we left it in his capable hands,” Stokes told reporters before flying from Abu Dhabi, where England’s camp were training.
“In terms of the tour itself, I’m really looking forward to it. I’ve never been there, and I’m quite interested to see what the security lark is like. I’ve heard it’s pretty intense,” he further added.
The series will commence in Rawalpindi on December 1 and will move to Multan (December 9-13) and Karachi (December 17-21) for the remaining two Tests.
