Australian all-rounder Ashton Agar, on Monday, reportedly received a death threat just as his side was gearing up to take on Pakistan on the latter's home turf. According to reports, it was Madeleine, Agar's partner, who received the message on her social media and she did not waste much time in making both the cricket boards aware of this development. This might turn out to be a minor setback ahead of such a historic tour, that could have a bearing on the progress and consistency of international cricket in Pakistan. The message reportedly threatened Agar, saying, "This is a warning for your husband Ashton Agar if he comes to tour against Pakistan he won’t come [back] alive.”  Pakistan vs Australia 2022: Usman Khawaja Speaks in Urdu While Addressing Press Ahead of Test Series (Watch Video)

Later, it was learnt after investigation, that the message did not pose any major threat and that it has supposedly come from India. The sender is believed to have done such a thing using a fake account on Instagram. Cricket Australia then released a statement on this development ahead of the Test series.

“Cricket Australia is aware of a social media post, of which the nature and content has been investigated by the PCB, CA and combined government security agencies. There are extensive security plans in place for this type of social media activity, which, in this case, is not considered a risk. No further comment will be made at this time.”

This statement by Cricket Australia would definitely be welcome for cricket fans in Pakistan and calm their nerves down a bit. After all, they perhaps would be waiting patiently for this historic tour to unfold.  Despite receiving such a threat, Agar seemed unimpacted by this as he and his teammates would start training for the Test series, the first of which begins on March 4 at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

This is Australia's first trip to Pakistan for bilateral series since 1998 and this tour indeed is a historic development. Earlier prior to the T20 World Cup last year, England and New Zealand opted out of tours of Pakistan. International cricket did not have any occurrence in Pakistan since 2009 after the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked. But that has started to change in the past few years.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 28, 2022 08:52 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).