Below the management of Babar Azam, the crew had a prolonged keep in Hyderabad, following a nine-hour layover in Dubai throughout their journey.Departing from Lahore within the early hours of Wednesday, they reached Hyderabad late at night time.
Pakistan’s schedule consists of a gap warm-up match in opposition to New Zealand on September 29, adopted by a conflict with Australia on October 3. Their World Cup marketing campaign kicks off with a sport in opposition to Netherlands in Hyderabad, and they’re slated to face Sri Lanka on October 10.
Remarkably, the Pakistan gamers obtained their Indian visas with lower than 48 hours to spare earlier than their deliberate departure. It is price noting that India and Pakistan solely sq. off in opposition to one another within the Asia Cup and ICC occasions because of the strained relations between the 2 nations.
Aside from Mohammad Nawaz and Salman Ali Agha, who’ve visited India for cricket functions, nearly all of the crew members are experiencing this distinctive alternative for the primary time. Notably, Babar missed out on taking part within the T20 World Cup in India in 2016 attributable to an damage.
“The BCCI has assured the ICC that each one groups will likely be supplied the perfect safety and will likely be nicely sorted so I do not anticipate something completely different for our crew. I do not suppose our crew will face any points in India,” head of PCB administration committee Zaka Ashraf informed reporters earlier than the crew’s departure.
Forward of the crew’s departure, Babar had spoken about his pleasure over taking part in in India particularly Ahmedabad the place the arch-rivals lock horns in entrance of a one lakh plus crowd.
“Though we now have not performed in India earlier than, we’re not taking an excessive amount of strain. We’ve achieved our analysis and we now have heard the situations are much like how they play out in different Asian nations,” stated Babar within the pre-departure media convention.
“I’m excited to play in Ahmedabad as it is going to be jam-packed. I’ll attempt my finest to carry out as much as my potential. I’m not apprehensive about my particular person accolades, I wish to be sure that no matter I do helps the end result for the crew,” he stated.
(With PTI inputs)
