Presidential level security will provided to Sri Lankan cricket team on its arrival test match
By;Asghar ali Mubarak
A warm welcome and a presidential level security are ready to greet the Sri Lankan cricket team on its arrival at Islamabad Air Port for the upcoming test match after 10 years gap. The Test series will form part of the inaugural 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship. It will be the first time in ten years that Test cricket will be played in Pakistan. The Test cricket is set to return to Pakistan after more than 10 years when Sri Lanka plays a two-match series at Rawalpindi and Karachi. The first Test will be played in Rawalpindi from December 11-15, while the second Test will be held in Karachi from December 19-23.The Sri Lanka was the last team to play a test match in Pakistan in March 2009, when the team’s bus came under attack at Lahore. Six policemen and two civilians were killed while seven Sri Lankan players were injured in the attack. The vote of confidence from Sri Lanka is hugely symbolic, as it was the attack on their team bus during a visit to Lahore in 2009 which drove international cricket away from Pakistan as the country grappled with militancy. No doubt this will be Happiest moment for every Pakistani to celebrate the revival of the Test cricket match as like Eid day festival cricket because the beauty of cricket ‘’test match’’ the cricket queen is returning to Pakistan after a long gap of 10 years. All kind of arrangement is completed by the local administration in this regards. A high level presidential level security will provided by the law and order security agencies .Pakistan army along with paramilitary rangers and police officials also took charge of the security in and around the Rawalpindi stadium, where the 1st test match will be played two day ago. This is the first time since 2009 that a Test nation is touring Pakistan for a test series. .The Sri Lanka also completed three one-day internationals and as many Twenty20s in Karachi and Lahore last month. Minnows Zimbabwe became the first team to return Pakistan in 2015 for one-days and Twenty20s followed by a Twenty20 series by a World XI in 2017, a one-off T20 match against Sri Lanka later that year, and a visit by the West Indies in 2018. In 2017 and 2018, the PCB managed to get an ICC World XI to play a T20 series in Lahore and then also convinced Sri Lanka to play a lone T20 match in the same city. Last year a weakened West Indies side also played three T20 matches in Karachi but again stayed in the city for only five days. For years afterwards, Pakistan hosted all its “home” games in the United Arab Emirates as foreign teams refused to visit the cricket-mad country for security fears. But Pakistan has seen a dramatic improvement in security in recent years, and international cricket has begun to creep back. Earlier The Sri Lankan cricket team toured Pakistan in September and October 2019 to play three One Day Internationals (ODIs) and three Twenty20 International (T20I) matches against the Pakistan cricket team. The tour originally had two Test matches scheduled to take place, but these were moved to December 2019. Sri Lanka last played a match in Pakistan in October 2017, when the third T20I took place at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore. Pakistan won the ODI series 2–0, after the first match was washed out, and Sri Lanka won the T20I series 3–0. In the T20I series, Sri Lanka won the first match by 64 runs, their first win against Pakistan since December 2013. Sri Lanka also won the second T20I, by a margin of 35 runs, to take an unassailable lead in the series. It was Sri Lanka’s first ever series win against Pakistan in a T20I bilateral series. Sri Lanka went on to win the final T20I match by 13 runs, winning the series 3–0. It was the first time in a three-match T20I series that Sri Lanka had won 3–0, and the first time that Pakistan had been whitewashed. More over the first ODI match at the National Stadium in Karachi was abandoned due to rain. It was the first time that an ODI match at the venue had been washed out. As a result, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) rescheduled the second ODI match, moving it back one day to 30 September 2019, to allow the ground staff more time to prepare the outfield. Pakistan won both of the remaining matches to wins the ODI series 2–0.In October 2019, the PCB proposed hosting the two Test matches in Pakistan, instead of the UAE, at venues in Rawalpindi and Karachi. Earlier in March 2009, the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked by gunmen ahead of the second Test match at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, and had not played a full series in Pakistan since. In May 2019, at the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) meeting in Singapore, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made a request to Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to play two Test matches in Pakistan. In July 2019, the SLC sent a security expert to assess the situation in Pakistan, with Sri Lanka Cricket saying they were “likely” to play a Test match in the country. A further decision was taken by Sri Lanka after a security delegation inspects venues in Lahore and Karachi in early August 2019. The delegation gave Sri Lanka Cricket “very positive feedback”, suggesting that Sri Lanka could be open to playing a Test match in Pakistan. On 22 August 2019, Sri Lanka’s Sports Minister confirmed their agreement to play a three-match ODI series in Pakistan in October, but ruled out playing any Test matches. On 9 September 2019, Sri Lanka Cricket met with players who were selected in a preliminary squad for the tour, to confirm with each individual if they would travel or not to Pakistan. Dinesh Chandimal, Akila Dananjaya, Niroshan Dickwella, Dimuth Karunaratne, Suranga Lakmal, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Kusal Perera, Thisara Perera and Dhananjaya de Silva all confirmed that they would not be going to Pakistan for the tour. Two days later, on the day that Sri Lanka named the squads to tour Pakistan, Sri Lanka’s government received information on a possible terrorist threat on the team. Sri Lanka Cricket conducted a reassessment prior to the tour starting. The PCB ruled out moving the fixtures to a neutral venue. Ehsan Mani, chairman of the PCB, stated that “we don’t have the time to shift or lookout for any other option right now”, reiterating that the PCB’s default position of playing the matches in Pakistan. On 19 September 2019, Sri Lanka Cricket confirmed that the tour would go ahead as planned. Two days later, the PCB appointed all the match officials for the tour.
