In an attempt to lure international teams to visit Pakistan, the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) has bought four bulletproof buses. No team is willing to tour Pakistan due to security reasons and as a result, UAE has become their new base. However, according to reports, the extra cost that the PCB has borne to host its matches in the UAE has placed a huge financial burden on the board.

Earlier, PCB chairman Shaharyar khan had said the Pakistan Cricket Board was suffering losses in millions of dollars of revenues due to lack of cricket in the country.

Apart from Zimbabwe’s limited-overs tour in May 2015, no international cricket team has visited Pakistan since March 2009 when terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team in Lahore.

“We have bought these four Coaster buses as part of our efforts to revive international cricket in the country,” a PCB spokesman told ESPNcricinfo. “There will be high expectations from teams willing to visit Pakistan and we want to ensure that we provide them with the best possible arrangements. Having these bulletproof vehicles would play a major part in convincing teams [about security arrangements].”

The PCB spokesman said that as the PCB is contemplating the idea of holding PSL final in Lahore, it is important to convince the overseas players to play in Pakistan. The idea of buying bulletproof buses was initially proposed at a PCB meeting way-back 2012 under the chairmanship of Zaka Ashraf, but with the change of leadership in the PCB the purchase was delayed. The matter was taken up again by PCB executive committee head Najam Sethi last year.

“We are actually planning to host the PSL final in Lahore, but this requires us to convince overseas players to come,” the spokesman said. “We have to have discussions with the players about their safety and security and I think this new addition to our security facilities will definitely give us an edge. Our ultimate goal is to revive international cricket, and we are doing our best to make sure we can.”