Cricket Australia is monitoring the tour situations of the Pakistan tour of the Australian cricket team in the wake of the suicide bombing in a mosque in Peshawar on 4 March 2022 that has claimed over 56 lives and left hundreds of others injured. Peshawar is just two hours from Rawalpindi where Australia and Pakistan are playing the first cricket Test between the two nations in the country in 24 years.
According to a report by The Sidney Morning Herald, team officials are monitoring the situation and in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The Australian cricket team is on its Pakistan tour for the first time after 1998. As of now, there are no suggestions about any major changes in the tour schedule due to the suicide bombing attack.
The Australian team is staying in Islamabad for the ongoing Rawalpindi test match and the team is provided with presidential-style security for the duration of the tour. The remaining matches in the series are scheduled to be played in Lahore and Karachi.
International cricket in Pakistan had ceased for a decade following an attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in 2009. The team was attacked by gunfire while it was heading towards the cricket stadium in Lahore to play a test match. Right now Pakistan is hosting the sixth test match after 2019. Cricket Australia and Pakistan Cricket Board had taken special efforts to organize this test match series.
Earlier today, a huge blast inside a Shia mosque shook Peshawar’s Kocha Risaldar area killing 30 Pakistani citizens and injuring more than 50. The Police said that the attack took place when worshipers had gathered in the mosque for their Friday prayers. The Police and the rescue personnel reached the site to learn that 10 injured are in critical condition. According to local reports, about 150 people were present inside the Kucha Risaldar mosque in Peshawar during Friday prayers at the time of the attack.