‘I will never go to Pakistan again’: New Zealand's Daryl Mitchell; Tom Curran 'cried like a baby' after airport closure

New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell vowed never to return to Pakistan to play cricket, while England fast bowler Tom Curran ended up "crying like a baby" when he learnt about the airport closure, revealed Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, narrating the plight of the overseas players taking part in the Pakistan Super League. The PSL was postponed indefinitely due to military tension between India and Pakistan, which started escalating from May 7, following India's strategic response to the ghastly terror attack in Palalgam that killed 26 civilians. Lahore Qalandars' New Zealand all rounder Daryl Mitchell (L) with teammates(AFP)

Initially, the PCB wanted to shift the remaining matches of the league to the UAE, but after the Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) rejected the offer, it had very little option but to cancel the tournament. The official announcement came barely a few hours after BCCI stalled the IPL for a week due to the same reason.

Overseas players in the PSL were flown out to the UAE from where they were booked on connecting flights to their final destinations.

Rishad, who was part of the Lahore Qalandars squad, said it was scary to know that the airport from which their charter aircraft took off on Saturday, came under missle attack 20 minutes later.

"After landing in Dubai when we heard that a missile struck the airport 20 minutes after we took off from the airport. The news was scary as well as sorrowful and now after reaching Dubai we are feeling relieved," Rishad told Cricbuzz.

"Whenever I go out to play, my family worries for me whether the situation is good or not and now when they heard the news about Pakistan - the bomb-blasts and the missile-strikes here and there- -naturally they were in tension.

"I personally tried to console them and tell them not to worry about me and they were quite normal," he added.

‘Tom Curran cried like a child’: Rishad

Rishad said his Lahore Qalandars teammate, Daryl Mitchell, told him he would never go to Pakistan again.

"Foreign players like Sam Billings, Daryl Mitchell, Kushal Perera, David Wiese, Tom Curran... all of them were so frightened... Landing in Dubai, Mitchell told me that he would never go to Pakistan again, especially in this kind of scenario. Overall, they all were horrified," said Rishad.

Recounting Tom Curran's plight, Rishad added: "He (Tom Curran) went to the airport, but heard that the airport was closed. Then he started crying like a little child, that it took two or three people to handle him," he added.

Rishad also revealed that an attempt was made by the PCB chief to hold the remaining matches of the PSL in Karachi but it was stalled soon after government intervention.

"The meeting was basically called to know our concerns, what we think about the current scenario. Almost all the foreign players said that the only safe place available for the later part of the tournament is Dubai.

"Yes, the PCB Chairman tried to convince us to conduct the remaining matches in Karachi. At that time he tried to hide from us that there were two drone attacks just the day before which we came to know later. Later all of us took the decision (to shift to Dubai) and the PCB Chairman helped us a lot to reach Dubai safely by the grace of Almighty Allah. Thanks to him and the Pakistan Cricket Board," he concluded.

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