LAHORE: Cricket is in full swing in Lahore as the Pakistan team’s training camp for the ICC T20 World Cup also started on Monday at the LCCA ground, located just a few hundred yards away from the Gaddafi Stadium where the National T20 Cup is also in progress.

The first day of the short camp saw interim head coach Saqlain Mushtaq in action with the players alongside bowling consultant Vernon Philander.

First, they held a fielding session followed by a net practice session and in the end gym and swimming sessions were organised which completed the four-hour training spell.

The national squad will play a practice match at the LCCA ground on Tuesday, after which there will be a rest day on Wednesday when the National T20 Cup final is played.

On Thursday, the World Cup squad will feature in a practice match at the Gaddafi Stadium before they leave for the UAE on Friday to compete in the global event.

Though former South Africa’s Test pacer Philander who has been hired by the PCB for the T20 World Cup reached Lahore, batting consultant former Australian opener Matthew Hayden will join the team in the UAE where the main round of the T20 World Cup starts on Oct 23.

Both earned the consultancy after regular head coach Misbah-ul-Haq and bowling coach Waqar Younis in surprising decisions stepped down soon after returning from the Pakistan team’s tours to England and West Indies in the first week of September as Ramiz Raja became the new PCB chairman in place of Ehsan Mani.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2021