Sri Lanka Cricket Team Arrives In Pakistan For ODI, T20I Series

The Lankan squad arrived in the southern port city of Karachi where they will be playing three ODIs followed by three T20Is in Lahore

The Sri Lankan cricket team arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for their limited-overs series, scheduled to begin from Friday in Karachi. The hosting government has promised to give the visitors the same level of security as a head of state. The Lankan squad arrived in the southern port city of Karachi where they will be playing three One-Day Internationals on Sept. 27, 29 and Oct. 2. The series will be followed by three T20Is in Lahore, the city where the Sri Lanka team bus was attacked by terrorists in 2009. The Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) took to its official social media account to share the pictures of the arrival of the team. Here's the post:

📸 Arrival of Sri Lanka team at Karachi for ODI & T20I series against Pakistan! #PAKvSL pic.twitter.com/FinGhRt3bX

— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 24, 2019

That ambush had killed eight people and injured several players. Since then, major teams have avoided visiting Pakistan for a bilateral series. The current tour was also under doubts as the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) received warning from the Prime Minister’s office about a possible security threat. Before this episode, 10 of Sri Lanka's top players including ODI captain Dimuth Karunaratne and T20 skipper Lasith Malinga have opted out of the tour due to security concerns. However, the tour was finally approved from the SLC after Pakistani government promised that the army would coordinate the security over the two-week-long visit. Pakistan has successfully hosted Zimbabwe, the West Indies, Sri Lanka, and a World XI for limited-overs matches in last four years. It will be for the first time since the 2009 attacks in Lahore that a foreign team stays in Pakistan for two weeks.