Sri Lankan team reaches Pakistan on historic tour

ISLAMABAD (92 News) – The Sri Lankan team reached New Islamabad Airport on a historic visit on Monday. The first Test will be played in Rawalpindi on December 11. Stringent security arrangements had been made on the occasion. The PCB officials welcomed the team at the airport. Moreover, the schedule of Metro Bus Service has been changed and the operation will start at 9pm.

Pakistan has not hosted the Test series since 2009 when the the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore. Sri Lanka had agreed to play the Test series after the successful staging of one-day and Twenty20 internationals in September and October this year.

This tour is being considered most important for the cricket loving nation as  it would surely highlight Pakistan's  reputation of being as safe and secure as any other country in the world. The international cricket returned to Pakistan in 2015 when Zimbabwe toured the country for one-day and Twenty20 matches. On Saturday, middle-order batsman Fawad Alam and fast-bowler Usman Shinwari were recalled for the ICC World Test Championship fixtures against Sri Lanka. The two players have replaced Iftikhar Ahmed and Muhammad Musa, respectively, as the selectors have followed the policy of consistency and continuity while picking the side for Pakistan’s first home Test series in over 10 years. Thirty-four-year-old Fawad Alam played his third and last Test in Dunedin in November 2009, while Shinwari is yet to make his Test debut despite having played in 17 ODIs and 16 T20Is since making his international debut in 2013. Fawad has been one of the most prolific and consistent batsmen in Pakistan’s domestic circuit, having scored 672 runs (average 56) in the 2015-16 season, 499 runs in the 2016-17 season (average 55.44), 570 runs (average 40.7) in the 2017-18 season, 699 runs (average 69.9) in the 2018-19 and 781 runs (average 71) in the ongoing 2019-20 season. Usman Shinwari took 15 wickets in six Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20 first-class matches at an average of just over 25. The first Test will be played in Rawalpindi from 11-15 December, while the second Test will be held in Karachi from 19-23 December. Pakistan Squad: Azhar Ali (captain) (Central Punjab), Abid Ali (Sindh), Asad Shafiq (Sindh), Babar Azam (Central Punjab), Fawad Alam (Sindh), Haris Sohail (Balochistan), Imamul Haq (Balochistan), Imran Khan Snr (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Kashif Bhatti (Sindh), Muhammad Abbas (Southern Punjab), Muhammad Rizwan (wicketkeeper) (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab), Shaheen Shah Afridi ( Northern), Shan Masood (Southern Punjab), Yasir Shah (Balochistan), Usman Shinwari (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).