Just because Pakistan is travelling to the UK in these difficult times amid the COVID-19 pandemic, it doesn't mean England will respond in the same manner regarding a visit to the Asian country in near future, team's head coach and chief selector, Misbah Ul Haq, said.
Pakistan has already announced a 29-man squad for the tour in August-September, featuring three Tests and three T20Is, which are expected to be played entirely in a bio-secure bubble. The visitors are set to go through proper testing and quarantine period before facing the three lions in a difficult series.
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England hasn't played in Pakistan since December 2005 because of security concerns. With times changing and other countries showing confidence to visit, however, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) would be expecting its English counterpart, the ECB, to reconsider its stance.
But Misbah doesn't think this tour of England will set the ball rolling towards that way.
"It is not in our minds that we are coming and keeping in view something that the ECB has to do for us in return," he said during a conference call.
"It is important for us to restart international cricket somewhere, get the players back on the ground. That is the most important thing at the moment."
In the aftermath of the Lahore terrorist attack in 2009 where a travelling Sri Lankan team's bus was targetted, Pakistan was removed as co-host of the 2011 World Cup and didn't play any international cricket at home till 2015 when Zimbabwe arrived for some white-ball fixtures in Lahore. And not until December last year did the home fans saw any Test cricket on grounds.
"In a bigger picture, we are not expecting anything in return but overall, we want not just the ECB but all cricketing nations to help each other so this game can grow,” said Misbah, the former skipper.
"It’s important for cricket fans in Pakistan and also for Pakistan cricket that countries start touring Pakistan."
In UAE, where Pakistan played its home Tests for a decade, the team got used to empty stadiums, which Misbah said will help while playing England without any crowd turnout.
"Nobody understands it better than us because we played much more cricket than any other team in the world with empty stadiums in the UAE," he said.
"Obviously looking at the bigger picture, if we want to resume international cricket, we have to start it from somewhere," Misbah added.
(Inputs from PTI)
