PCB chief Ashraf confident that players will be ‘well looked after’
Hyderabad: The Pakistan cricket team arrived here on Wednesday, Sept. 28, its first visit to India in seven years, to compete in the ODI World Cup beginning from October 5, a PTI report in The Tribune, Chandigarh, says
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The Babar Azam-led side will spend some time in Hyderabad. They arrived here after a 9-hour layover in Dubai.
The team will play their opening warm-up game against New Zealand on September 29 before taking on Australia on October 3. They open their tournament campaign against Netherlands here before playing Sri Lanka on October 10.
The Pakistan players got their Indian visas less than 48 hours before their scheduled travel. Both India and Pakistan only face each other in the Asia Cup and ICC events due to the tense relations between the two countries.
Only Mohammad Nawaz and Salman Ali Agha have visited India for cricket. Babar could not play the T20 World Cup in India in 2016 due to an injury.
“The BCCI has said all teams will be provided the best security and will be well looked after so I don’t expect anything different for our team. I don’t think our team will face any issues in India,” head of PCB management committee Zaka Ashraf told reporters before team’s departure.
Ahead of the team’s departure, Babar had spoken about his excitement over playing in India especially Ahmedabad where the arch-rivals lock horns in front of a one lakh plus crowd.
“Although we have not played in India before, we are not taking too much pressure. We have done our research and we have heard the conditions are similar to how they play out in other Asian countries,” said Babar in the pre-departure media conference.
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