Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) board has sought assistance from its government to reassess the security situation in Pakistan ahead of the men’s team’s upcoming limited-overs tour of Pakistan.
Sri Lanka accepted an invitation from the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to tour the country for three ODIs and as many T20s after sending a two-member delegation to assess the security situation in Pakistan.
10 senior Sri Lanka players had earlier pulled out of the tour citing security concerns forcing SLC to name much-changed ODI and T20 squads for the tour led by Lahiru Thirimanne and Dasun Shanaka respectively.
However, the SLC is now reconsidering the security assessment for the tour after receiving a tip-off from the Prime Minister’s Office for a possible terror threat to the team.
“Sri Lanka Cricket today sought the assistance of the Sri Lankan Government to conduct a ‘Reassessment’ of the security situation in Pakistan ahead of the National Team’s planned tour to Pakistan,” an SLC press release stated.
Update: Sri Lanka's Tour of Pakistan #PAKvSL
— Sri Lanka Cricket 🇱🇰 (@OfficialSLC) September 11, 2019
SLC has been advised to take extreme care, and ‘reassess’ the situation, before embarking on the Pakistan tour. https://t.co/8eYSuiWjog
“The decision was taken following a warning, the SLC received from the Prime Minister’s Office, sent via the Ministry of Telecommunication, Foreign Employment and Sports.
“Accordingly, the warning highlights that the Prime Minister’s Office has received reliable information of a possible terrorist threat on the Sri Lankan team, while touring Pakistan.”
The proposed tour of Pakistan was slated to get underway on September 27 with the first of the three ODIs at Karachi before coming an end on October 9 with the final T20 at Lahore.
International cricket in Pakistan has been at a near standstill ever since the touring Sri Lanka team bus was attacked by terrorists in Lahore in 2009. It now remains to be seen whether the upcoming tour will go ahead in light of the latest developments.
