England wouldn't have pulled out of India tour as they are rich and powerful: Holding

Former West Indies fast bowler Michael Holding has hit out at the ECB for cancelling their tour of Pakistan, accusing them of 'Western Arrogance.' Holding adds that the ECB would not have done the same if the matches were in India.

New Zealand and England pulled out of the Pakistan tour recently. While New Zealand claimed there was a security threat, England on the other hand, cited bubble fatigue of its players as the reason.

"What that signal sends to me is the same western arrogance. I will treat you how I feel like treating you - it doesn't matter what you think, I will just do what I want. Four days in Pakistan was all they would have spent, I am absolutely sure they would not have done that to India. You know why? Because India is rich and powerful," Holding said, according to Sky Sports.

Pakistan went to England and completed the required quarantine in 2020 even before vaccines were made available and Holding says, England who were in Pakistan for four days should have held up their end of the bargain.

"They were going for four days. Pakistan went to England [in 2020] before vaccines were available for six, seven weeks, something like that. They stayed, they played their cricket, they were in that bubble. I was in that bubble and it wasn't fantastic but it was better than going out into society, where we know Covid was and without any vaccinations available to anyone," Holding said.

"They stayed, they played and honoured what England wanted them to honour, and now you have an opportunity to try and repay them to a small degree," he added.

Earlier PCB chairman Ramiz Raja had said that he is disappointed with England's withdrawal but it was on expected lines following New Zealand's exit.

"I am severely disappointed in England's withdrawal but it was expected because this western bloc gets united unfortunately and tries to back each other. So you can take any decision on the basis of security threat and perception. There was a sense of anger because first New Zealand got away without sharing information about the threat they were facing," Raja said according to ESPNCricinfo.