Pakistan’s cricket team leaves for India for bilateral series

After months of preparations, Pakistan’s cricket team finally left for New Delhi for its much-anticipated tour of India for the first bilateral series in five years.

With Mohammad Hafeez in charge of the Twenty20 squad and Misbah-ul-Haq holding the team’s ODI command, Pakistan would be looking to give their best on the brief tour that would begin with a Twenty20 International in Bangalore on Christmas Day. The series opener would be followed by the second and last T20 game in Ahmedabad on December 28. The three One-day Internationals would take place in Chennai, Kolkata and New Delhi.

Pakistan held a series of practice sessions and played a few warm-up games during a week-long training camp that concluded in Lahore on Thursday.

On Friday, the touring party had a meeting with Zaka Ashraf, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman at the Board headquarters in Lahore.

According to a PCB media release, Ashraf spoke on the importance of the tour, laying stress on coping with pressure and keeping up the performances while being great ambassadors of the country.

He wished the team good luck and hoped for the team’s success while asking players to remain positive and give their best on the tour which he termed a crucial one.

The news that a Hindu extremist party has threatened to hold protests against the visiting team must have caused some concern in the Pakistani camp.

According to reports, Shiv Sena has said that it will organise protests against the Pakistani cricket team. The party has strongly opposed the resumption of cricketing ties with Pakistan terming it as a matter of national shame.

Pakistan won’t play any match in Maharashtra – the party’s power base — but Shiv Sena has said that it will protest wherever the team is scheduled to travel.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=36478

Posted by Web Desk on Dec 22 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.