LAHORE: A member of the security team, hired by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for Pakistan, has arrived in Lahore to prepare initial report about the security situation in the city, before giving green signal for the remaining members of the team to visit after Eid-ul-Azha to give a final clearance for the ICC World XI tour.

The World XI is scheduled to play three T20 Internationals against Pakistan from Sept 11 to 15.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi said he would not disclose the name of the security official but pointed out he had started work in Lahore and a full security team would visit after Eid-ul-Azha.

Both the ICC and PCB have already announced their squads for the said series, which is vital for the restoration of international cricket in Pakistan. If the tour is successful, then Sri Lanka and the West Indies are also due to play two and three T20 matches respectively in the coming months.

It may be mentioned here that the ICC had hired services of an international security agency for three years for a sum of US$1.2 million to give its report about the situation in Pakistan during this period.

The chairman said though a lot of work still to be done including, finalising arrangements for broadcasting the matches, sale of tickets and settling all security-related issues, the PCB is well on target to complete all arrangements well in advance.

Sethi said the PCB official broadcaster Ten Sports is doing all efforts to ensure all the arrangements.

To a question, he said the PTV Sports is not well equipped to meet the high standards set by Ten Sports in coverage of matches since it uses 16 modern cameras and drone camera technology.

Sethi further said the ICC-hired security company’s report would be worthy and all cricket boards of the world would accept it before sending their players without any fear.

Meanwhile, the PCB chairman said that he had invited retired Pakistan trio of Younis Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi for a farewell function in their honour in Lahore on Sept 14.

“The PCB will give a grand farewell to star cricketers in recognition of their meritorious services rendered for Pakistan cricket,” the PCB chairman said.

The chairman said he had personally tal­ked to all three former captains before exte­­n­ding the invitations. He said though Afridi had some assignment in England on plan­ned date for the function, he had given his word that he would be attending the function.

Sethi was not willing to divulge the amount which would be given to the trio, it is learnt that each of them will get a purse of Rs10 million.

Published in Dawn, August 30th, 2017