Pakistan cricket team had got its visa clearance to travel India for the upcoming ICC Men’s ODI World Cup 2023 starting on October 5.
Pakistan visa issues cleared to travel India
The Pakistan Cricket team planned to travel to Dubai before competing in the Warmup games of the World Cup 2023.
With the Pakistan Cricket Board announcing their 15-member squad for the tournament on Friday, Babar Azam and his co are set to travel on a pre-World Cup bonding trip but the visa clearance have been approved.
Out of 10 teams participating in the World Cup, only the Pakistan team has not received their visas yet. With the plans canceled, the Pakistan team will be heading toward Karachi and will start to Hyderabad for their warm-up match. Pakistan team will be traveling to India for the first time since 2012-13.
Earlier on Monday, The Pakistan Cricket Board wrote to the ICC with concerns over the Pakistan team’s clearance to travel India for the upcoming World Cup 2023.
The ICC after reviewing the issue confirmed the visa for the Pakistan team has been approved for the big tournament in the subcontinent. It is said that the visa came less than 48 hours before Pakistan’s schedule to travel India via Dubai on September 27.
“Visas have been issued to Pakistan,” ICC told news agency PTI. “We have not got the call from Indian High Commission yet over visa clearance. A member of our team is stationed there,” said Umar Farooq.
“There have been extraordinary delays in getting clearance and securing Indian visas for the Pakistan team for the ICC World Cup. We have written to ICC raising our concerns about inequitable treatment towards Pakistan and reminding them of these obligations towards the World Cup.
“It’s a matter of disappointment that the Pakistan team has to go through the uncertainty ahead of the major tournament. We have been reminding them about their obligations for the last three years and it has all come down to the last two days with our first warm game scheduled on September 29. We were forced to cancel our original plan to organize team-building exercises in Dubai on the way to India. We have had to rework our plan and book new flights, but these plans are subject issuance of visas.”
Pakistan will be playing their warmup matches against New Zealand on September 29 and Australia on October 3 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
