ISLAMABAD: England all-rounder Moeen Ali believes the English team’s proposed tour to Pakistan early next year would be a massive achievement and a huge step towards the revival of international cricket in the country.

According to recent media reports, talks between the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are underway for England’s tour to Pakistan in January 2021 for a Twenty20 series. England last undertook a tour to Pakistan back in 2005.

The 33-year-old Moeen said Pakistan did a lot for the ECB by coming for a tour during the summer of 2020 while claiming that an eventual tour by the England team would be a massive achievement for Pakistan.

“I think it will be a positive move, a great move for both parties. It would mainly be great for cricket in general. To have a team like England come to play cricket in Pakistan would be a massive achievement. It would be a massive step forward in terms of bringing cricket back to Pakistan. I think what Pakistan did for the ECB and England, this summer, was massive. We all hope that something comes out of this. It will be a great place to go and play international cricket in for sure,” cricketpakistan.com.pk quoted Moeen as saying.

Moeen also spoke about his experience of playing the fifth season of Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Pakistan, earlier this year.

“I have spoken to [England] team-mates about the PSL. The experience was amazing. Not just the cricket and the fans but also things like the food, hotel and the security were put in place really well. I haven’t officially spoken to the ECB in that regard but have been talking about the experience with the team-mates,” the Multan Sultans all-rounder said.

The all-rounder revealed that he might not be available to play the remaining PSL matches, scheduled to take place in November.

“If I can visit, that would be amazing. I will have to check the schedule for the next month before confirming for the PSL. I think we are going to go to South Africa with the ODI team so it might clash but we will see what happens over the course of the next couple of weeks. It is an amazing tournament and hopefully we can finish it off with a trophy.”.

Ali also named youngsters young batsman Haider Ali and pacer Naseem Shah as the bright prospects of Pakistan cricket going forward.

“Haider looked like a very good player. He was very brave on his debut. He looks like a great prospect looking forward. Obviously Naseem is a very good bowler. They always have good players to be honest. They always produce fantastic players no matter what the situation is,” Moeen said.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2020