LAHORE: African nation Zimbabwe cricket team has reached Pakistan to start international cricket in the country again after gap of six years when terrorists attacked Sri Lankan team in Lahore.
The Emirates airline plane carrying Zimbabwe’s cricket team landed in Lahore at wee hours of Tuesday for a high-stakes tour of Pakistan.
Before arrival of international team, Pakistan completed arrangements for a rousing reception of the visitors with cricket buffs raring to welcome the Zimbabweans as a part of restoration of international cricket at home ground.
Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) officials and Punjab Home Minister Shuja Khanzada welcomed the African nation.
The provincial minister hoped that this tour will open a chain of visits to Pakistan by international sides, saying, he expressed hope that several other world teams would visit Pakistan following Zimbabwe.
The guest team were transported to a local hotel amid heightened security with 60- vehicle security detail aided by aerial surveillance by helicopter. The entire route was cordoned off. Snipers were stationed at high-rises all through the routes.
The Zimbabwean team will remain in the country from May 19 to June 1 to play a series consisting of three one-day internationals and two Twenty20 amid massive security at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Both sides will play two Twenty20 internationals on May 22 and 24, followed by three one-day internationals on May 26, 29 and 31 — all in Lahore.
All streets and markets around Qaddafi Stadium Lahore will be closed till the end of the tour.
The tour is a first by a full ICC member since Sri Lanka visited in 2009, when their team bus was attacked by RPG and machine-gun wielding militants, with eight people — six police and two civilians — killed and seven players wounded.
Forced to host home games in neutral venues like the United Arab Emirates, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) estimates it has lost $120 million in TV rights and extra overheads.
Even hosting the Zimbabwe team will cost the PCB more than $1 million, half of which is for the visitors fees and expenses.
An incident-free series is seen as crucial to Pakistan’s hopes of ending its sporting isolation.
The players will not be allowed to leave their hotel without security and their movements will be restricted within the stadium.
“It is our first step towards the goal of reviving international cricket and we will leave nothing to chance to make this tour safe and successful,” PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan said.
For players like Umar Akmal, Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq — all of whom have played more than 50 internationals — it will be their first chance to represent Pakistan at home.
