The Babar Azam-led Pakistan cricket team landed in India for the ODI World Cup 2023 on Wednesday evening, the first Pakistani side in seven years to have visited India since the 2016 T20 World Cup.
The national team arrived in the neighbouring country via Dubai and touched down at Hyderabad at around where they will play their first warm-up against New Zealand on September 29 only after a day’s rest.
Pakistan’s warm-up match against New Zealand will be played in an empty stadium after Indian police failed to make adequate security arrangements for large crowds.
The Hyderabad police has expressed its inability to provide security due to two religious festivals being held in the city at the same time as the match, according to a report by ESPNCricinfo.
No player in the Pakistan squad other than Mohammad Nawaz has played in India.
The national sides’s participation in the multilateral competition and the visas for India were marred by the delays as they were the last team to have obtained visas.
The Indian government on September 25 issued visas for the Pakistan squad after multiple delays. Earlier, the Pakistan Cricket Board wrote a letter to the International Cricket Council expressing concerns over the visa issue.
The Babar Azam-led squad left from Lahore airport for Dubai at 3.20am in the wee hours and stayed in Dubai for around 9 hours. The team arrived in India at 8:15pm (local time) on Wednesday.
They will begin their World Cup campaign against the Netherlands on October 6 and will face India in Ahmedabad on October 14 in the high-intensity match.
