Ten Sri Lankan players have decided against travelling to Pakistan for the upcoming tour, scheduled to begin on September 27 in Karachi.
Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera are among the top players to pull out from the tour, which consists of three ODIs and three T20 games.
A militant attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore a decade ago had stopped several top cricketing nations from touring the country.
The Sri Lanka cricket board stated that all players were briefed about the security arrangements and it was left to their discretion if they wanted to go ahead.
Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Akila Dananjaya, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne were the other players who “chose to stay away” from the series.
It was believed that this tour will attract more nations to Pakistan after years of isolation.
Sri Lanka batsman Danushka Gunathilaka was among the players who believed that the security would be adequate.
“From what they told us, I think there will be very tight security,” Gunathilaka said.
The island nation will also participate in two Test matches against Pakistan but the dates and venue have not been announced yet.
Sri Lanka’s sports minister Harin Fernando has suggested the United Arab Emirates should be the venue, as opposed to Pakistan. The UAE has served as the home ground of several of Pakistan’s series in the past few years.
