ICC To Review Security Arrangements In Pakistan Before Sending Its Officials For Sri Lanka Series: Report
Sep 17, 2019 at 4:23 PM
The International Cricket Council (ICC) will review the security arrangements in Pakistan before deciding on sending its officials to the county to officiate in the six limited-overs matches that are scheduled to be played there, a report in Urdu daily suggests.
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Should the apex board not be satisfied with the arrangements, it would ask the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to appoint its own officials for the matches.
In 2015, ICC did not send its officials to Pakistan for the series against Zimbabwe. Then, PCB had appointed its own officials for the matches. Zimbabwe was the first team to play an international match in Pakistan since 2009.
It remains to be seen if the apex board sends its officials to Pakistan or not. For now, it is confirmed that the series will be played as per the schedule.
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10 senior Sri Lankan players had withdrawn from the series, that saw Sri Lana Cricket Board announcing a second-string team. The list of players backing out included T20I captain Lasith Malinga and ODI captain Dimuth Karunaratne. Thisara Perera, who had played in Pakistan in 2017 and 2018, had also withdrawn from the series.
Lahiru Thirimanne will lead the visitors in the ODIs while Dasun Shanaka will be doing the captaincy duties in the shortest format.
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As per the schedule, the two teams are slated to play three ODIs in Karachi on September 27, 29 and October 3. Later, they will be playing thee T20Is on October 5, 7 and 9 in Lahore.
Pakistan are yet to name their squad for the series but it has already been confirmed that Babar Azam will be assisting Sarfaraz Ahmed in captaincy duties as he has been named as Pakistan’s vice-captain.
The upcoming Pakistan-Sri Lanka series will also be maiden series for Misbah-ul-Haq, Pakistan’s new head coach who took over the job from Mickey Arthur, recently.