‘A real shame’: NZ captain displeased with his team’s decision

New Zealand captain Kane Williamson has expressed his displeasure with his team over the decision to pull out of its tour of Pakistan.

“I don’t know the details of yesterday. It was a sudden call, but obviously, a real shame,” said the captain.

The Kiwi captain said there is so much passion in Pakistan and that he dreaded that the “guys will be gutted” to not have started and played the whole series.

I will find out a bit more about it over the next few days, Williamson said, admitting that he does not know full details of the incident.

“Players’ safety is paramount and when you hear messages going through from the government, it is certainly above the players’ heads,” Williamson said.

Williamson shared his empathy towards the Pakistani players his team was set to be pitted against on the pitch. “They were obviously over there, ready to go to the ground. It is a sudden thing that happened.”

He said he certainly hoped there is no lasting impact from it because it is a special place for cricket to be and there have been a lot of strides forward to see cricket go back into Pakistan and play there safely.

Meanwhile, Williamson was not part of the team that arrived in Pakistan for the series but he said he was aware of what happened and was concerned.