Thousands of security personnel will be deployed when Karachi hosts the final of the Pakistan Super League on Sunday – its biggest cricket match in nine years, after a spate of attacks drove away foreign teams.
Although some overseas players opted out, authorities have promised head-of-state level security at the National cricket Stadium when Peshawar Zalmi take on Islamabad United.
The Twenty20 match has great significance for Pakistan as it gradually welcomes back international cricket, which ground to a halt after a deadly attack on Sri Lanka’s Test team in Lahore in 2009 which killed eight people and injured seven visiting players.