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| December 14, 2005 | Wednesday | Ziqa’ad 11, 1426 |
Third ODI: Pakistan team arrives
KARACHI, Dec 13: Pakistan cricket team flew into the city from Lahore on Tuesday afternoon to play its third match of the five-match One-day International series at National Stadium on Thursday.
The Inzamamul Haq-led team was escorted from the Quaid-i-Azam International Airport straight to their hotel under stringent security arrangements.
The team will have a training session at the stadium on Wednesday under the supervision of their coach Bob Woolmer.
Pakistan and England are tied at 1-1 in the series so far with final two games to be held at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Dec 19 and 21. The England squad was also due to arrive here on Wednesday. They too would train under lights immediately after their arrival the same evening.
The NSK witnessed chaos-like situation on Tuesday when a huge number of game enthusiasts including former Test cricketers, internationals and first class cricketers mobbed its premises to buy tickets. Majority of them, however, lamented they faced difficulty getting them.
With this match, England will become the first non-Asian team to play in Karachi after 2002 when New Zealand were here for a Test and witnessed a bomb blast, which went off outside their hotel killing 11 French naval engineers.
The New Zealanders cancelled their tour immediately afterwards and rushed home.
Security officials are leaving nothing to chance for Thursday’s match in Pakistan’s largest city which has of late seen some of the bloodiest terrorist scenes and political unrest.
England, who had earlier rejected the city as a Test venue, did not agree to play back to back limited overs international matches and only consented to playing a One-day match and that too after getting assurances of high-level of security.
“The safety measures are in order and we are confident that the match will be played in the best of atmosphere,” Major General Javed Zia, director general of Rangers said.
A bomb blast last month just 200 meters from the five-star hotel where the England team will stay had thrown the ODI into doubts, but assurances from the provincial government convinced the visitors to play.—Agencies
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