World XI tour will revive international cricket in Pak: Arthur

Pakistan cricket team Head Coach Mickey Arthur has expressed the hope that the proposed upcoming tour of World XI team to the country will help bring international cricket back home.

No Test side has toured Pakistan since March 2009 militants attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Lahore, killing six Pakistani policemen and injuring some of the visiting players. However, low-ranked sides, namely Afghanistan and Zimbabwe, had toured the country for a limited-over series.

Monday's bomb attack in Lahore's Ferozepur Road which killed 26 people and injured 58 others, has again cast doubts over the planned World XI tour later this year.

Reflecting on the same, Arthur said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is doing a tremendous job in trying to revive international cricket at home, and therefore, he hopes to see the World XI tour going ahead successfully.

"The isolation is being very hard on Pakistan cricket. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is doing an unbelievable job in trying to resurrect international cricket. I just hope the World XI tour goes ahead and that will almost be the curtain raiser to, hopefully, get some international cricket back," the Dawn quoted Arthur, as saying.

The former South African cricketer added that the cricketers at domestic level are deprived of seeing their star players at home and are finding it difficult to raise their standards.

"Every international match we play as a unit we are playing effectively away from home, away our own conditions and that makes it doubly difficult. Look, I definitely think it affects all cricket. The first-class cricketers in Pakistan are not able to see their stars playing at home and are not able to lift their standards so it's a vicious circle," the head coach said.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) are slated to send a World XI to Pakistan in September for three-match Twenty20 series.