LAHORE: India has still not issued visas to the Pakistan squad for the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023, forcing them to cancel their “team-bonding trip” to Dubai, ESPNcricinfo reported Friday.
The Green Shirts were scheduled to fly to Dubai early next week before leaving for India ahead of their first warm-up match against New Zealand on September 29.
However, the team has now planned to fly to Dubai and leave for Hyderabad (India) from there next week on Wednesday, the report said, adding Pakistan are the only one out of nine teams who haven’t been issued their visas yet.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), which is worried about the situation, has informed the International Cricket Council (ICC) about the delay.
The ICC World Cup is scheduled to begin on October 5.
The sources said that the visas were supposed to be issued on time as per the agreement signed with the regulatory body. Moreover, the Indian authorities are not providing any information about the issuance of visas for the team and the cricket fans.
The PCB has been in constant contact with the Indian Consulate for the last week. However, the visas were not issued till Friday — the last working day of the week.
Travel between the two countries is usually an issue for players due to the diplomatic tensions between the governments. The teams have not travelled to each other’s countries for a bilateral series since 2012-2013.
Pakistan’s schedule for World Cup
October 6 – vs Netherlands in Hyderabad
October 10 – vs Sri Lanka in Hyderabad
October 14 – vs India in Ahmedabad
October 20 – vs Australia in Bengaluru
October 23 – vs Afghanistan in Chennai
October 27 – vs South Africa in Chennai
October 31 – vs Bangladesh in Kolkata
November 4 – vs New Zealand Bengaluru (Day match)
November 11 – vs England in Kolkata
The day matches will start at 10am Pakistan Standard Time (PST) while all other matches will be day-night fixtures starting at 1:30pm (PST).
If Pakistan qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Kolkata.
If India qualify for the semi-finals, they will play in Mumbai unless playing against Pakistan, in which case they will play in Kolkata.
Squad
Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafiq, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), M Wasim Jnr, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usama Mir.
Reserves
Mohammad Haris, Zaman Khan, Abrar Ahmed.
