Ramiz Raja hopes Australia can be responsible after two series cancellations

Pakistan will not be playing on neutral venues for a home series despite the cancelled series against New Zealand and England, PCB chairman Ramiz Raja said on Tuesday. New Zealand pulled out of their limited-overs series last week few hours before the first match while England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) followed suit by cancelling their series citing security reasons.

"Our stance and my stance for many a year is that we've made so much of sacrifice, spent a lot of money to try and instill confidence in visiting teams to play in Pakistan. So we're not going to look outwards or look for international neutral venues. It's going to be Pakistan right from now to the end," Ramiz said in an online press conference on Tuesday.

While saying Cricket Australia (CA) might follow the example, he urged CA to be responsible and not cancel their scheduled tour in February-March next year.

"I think Australia need to be responsible, it's as simple as that. The theme here is to help out Pakistan and it must not have a domino effect. And it appears as if we are going to experience a domino effect," he added. 

"As it is, it's a small cricket fraternity and Australia is a major player in that. What use will Australia be to Pakistan if they act on New Zealand's behavior, if they see England withdrawing from Pakistan and take a cue from that."

Raja was baffled by England's reason for withdrawal and said that the Australians should consider that some of their players also featured in the Pakistan Super League held in the country and were safe.

"By the way, England's take was not security but it was players being spooked and players being uncomfortable and the Players Association being iffy. There's no cricketing sense of that withdrawal. I hope we are able to convince Australia that Pakistan is safe. If it is safe for Australians in PSL, why can't it be safe for the entire Australian cricket team?"

PCB said it had reached out to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh for a short series but since players from both the nations had other commitments it did not go through.