NZ cricket team set to visit Pakistan after nearly 18 years

LAHORE: The New Zealand Cricket team is bracing up to visit Pakistan to play three ODIs and five T-20 fixtures in September after a gap of 17 years and 10 months.

The Kiwis had last toured Pakistan to play five ODIs between November 29, 2003 and December 7 of the same year. Pakistan had won the series 5–0. While New Zealand were captained by Chris Cairns, Pakistani team was headed by Inzamamul Haq.

Earlier, in May 2002, the New Zealanders had aborted their tour of Pakistan due to a bomb blast near the team's Karachi hotel. The blast had killed 14 people. Within two hours of the blast, the New Zealand Cricket officials had announced in Christchurch that the team would return home immediately.

The team flew out of Karachi on the same day (May 8, 2002) at 7.25pm local time. The bomb had exploded shortly before the New Zealand team was due to board its bus to travel to the National Stadium Karachi for the first day of the second Test, the last match of the tour. Both the teams were staying at the Pearl Continental Hotel in Karachi, which was damaged when the blast tore through a bus outside the nearby Sheraton Hotel.

The explosion had left a large crater on the road. According to newspaper reports, a man driving a car, with a bomb inside, had detonated the vehicle near the bus carrying French engineers.

Apart from the suicide bomber, some 11 French naval engineers and two Pakistanis had perished in this attack. The French engineers were reportedly working with Pakistan to design an Agosta 90B-Class submarine for the Pakistani Navy. Some 40 people were wounded in this incident. However, none of the Pakistani or Kiwi players were injured.