NEW DELHI, Feb 25: Tibet's exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, will inaugurate the opening match of Pakistan's cricket tour of India next week, organisers said on Friday.

The three-day match between the tourists and the Indian board president's team is scheduled to be played from March 3 in the northern hill resort of Dharamsala where the Tibetan leader's government-in-exile is based.

"It is only fitting that the Dalai Lama inaugurate what will be the first international match in this town," said Anurag Thakur of the Himachal Pradesh cricket association. Dharamsala has hosted the Dalai Lama since he fled Tibet in 1959 amid a failed uprising against Chinese rule. -APP