barabati stadium, pakistan cricket, women's world cup, pakistan cuttack, basit ali, pakistan women's cricket team, diana baig, women's cricket world cup, icc women's world cup, 2013 women's world cu, women's world cup pakistan, sana mir, mohtashim rasheed, pakistan women's cricket team cuttack
Pakistan team manager Ayesha Ashar said the entire squad was happy with the arrangements made at the Barabati stadium. -Photo by Sara Faruqi/Dawn.com

NEW DELHI: Pakistan's women cricketers in India for the World Cup are staying in the stadium premises instead of a hotel for security reasons, the International Cricket Council said on Tuesday.

The entire squad is living in the club house of the Barabati stadium in the eastern city of Cuttack where Pakistan are due to play its matches in the eight-nation tournament starting on Thursday.

“I can confirm the team is staying at the Barabati stadium,” an ICC spokeswoman told AFP from Cuttack.

“The ICC considered all options and the best security for the teams, and we have chosen to use the Barabati stadium club house.”

Cuttack was added as a last-minute venue after the right-wing nationalist Shiv Sena party threatened to disrupt Pakistan's matches in Mumbai, where the entire tournament was originally scheduled to be played.

Matches in group B -- featuring Pakistan, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa -- were shunted to Cuttack, where Pakistan will remain if they qualify for the second round.

But the Pakistani team will still have to travel to Mumbai if they make the final at the Brabourne stadium on February 17.

Pakistan team manager Ayesha Ashar said the entire squad was happy with the arrangements made at the Barabati stadium.

“The arrangements are more like we get in Pakistan,” Ashar was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India news agency.

“We are happy with the facilities provided to us by the organisers.”

Pakistan open their campaign against Australia at the Barabati stadium on Friday.

HAVE YOUR SAY:

-Keeping in mind the situation the Pakistani team is faced with in India, should the ICC play a more decisive role?

-Are the ICC and the BCCI setting a precedent for all future matches that Pakistan may be involved in in India?

-Being bound to the hotel (stadium in this case) has been cited by FICA and most international teams as a major concern when talk of touring Pakistan comes up. Will it affect the performance of Sana Mir's team in any way?

-If travelling around in India is not a safe option for the Pakistan women's team, is it right for the World Cup to go ahead over there?

Opinion

Editorial

Ties with Tehran
Updated 24 Apr, 2024

Ties with Tehran

Tomorrow, if ties between Washington and Beijing nosedive, and the US asks Pakistan to reconsider CPEC, will we comply?
Working together
24 Apr, 2024

Working together

PAKISTAN’S democracy seems adrift, and no one understands this better than our politicians. The system has gone...
Farmers’ anxiety
24 Apr, 2024

Farmers’ anxiety

WHEAT prices in Punjab have plummeted far below the minimum support price owing to a bumper harvest, reckless...
By-election trends
Updated 23 Apr, 2024

By-election trends

Unless the culture of violence and rigging is rooted out, the credibility of the electoral process in Pakistan will continue to remain under a cloud.
Privatising PIA
23 Apr, 2024

Privatising PIA

FINANCE Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb’s reaffirmation that the process of disinvestment of the loss-making national...
Suffering in captivity
23 Apr, 2024

Suffering in captivity

YET another animal — a lioness — is critically ill at the Karachi Zoo. The feline, emaciated and barely able to...