SLC to reexamine security arrangements in Pakistan

09/12/2019

The Sri Lanka Cricket board (SLC), after being reassured about the security situation in Pakistan, has now reached out to the Sri Lankan government for assistance to conduct a reexamination of the same. The team is scheduled to tour Pakistan for a limited-overs tour later in September.

The cricket board, on Wednesday, solicited for government help after the Prime Minister's Office alarmed the SLC of receiving "reliable information of a possible terrorist threat" on the Sri Lankan team while in Pakistan. The Prime Minister's Office, thereby, communicated the warning to the Sri Lanka cricket board and has further suggested "extreme care" and reassessment of the security arrangements before taking on the said tour to Pakistan.

Previously, the decision to tour Pakistan was opposed by as many as ten star players who backed out of the tour - including the likes of Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera, Niroshan Dickwella, Dinesh Chandimal and Angelo Matthews. Despite the security briefing with the board earlier in the week, the players weren't convinced enough to visit Pakistan. Eventually, SLC announced relatively inexperienced squads and named Lahiru Thirimanne and Dasun Shanaka as the captains of the ODI and T20I squads.

Pakistan was banned from hosting cricket matches in their country ever since the Lahore attacks in 2009, which found the Sri Lankan team bus as its target, and Sri Lanka have since then played just one T20I in Lahore, in October 2017.

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Cricket Board took to twitter to release a statement saying, "We have seen the SLC statement, but are not privy to any information or intelligence report relating to safety of the SL team. The PCB reiterates its commitment to provide complete safety and security to the SL side and in this relation will continue to work with the SLC."

Sri Lanka are scheduled to play three ODIs in Karachi starting on September 27, followed by as many T20Is in Lahore.