It looks like Sri Lanka’s tour to Pakistan is in jeopardy as ten of their players have refused to travel to Pakistan over security concerns. Although Sri Lanka cricket board assured about security the cricketers are not convinced yet.
The story
Pakistan’s hopes for international cricket return to the country look troublesome. Ten prominent cricketers namely Niroshan Dickwella, Kusal Perera, Dhananjaya de Silva, Thisara Perera, Akila Dananjaya, Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews, Suranga Lakmal, Dinesh Chandimal and Dimuth Karunaratne have pulled them out of the tour. They were scheduled to visit Pakistan for three one-day internationals and the same number of Twenty20 internationals between September 27 and October 9.
Sri Lanka cricket board held a meeting with the players to brief them about the security situation in Pakistan. The players in return chose to stay away from the same.
Versions of the boards
“Former Sri Lanka Air Force Commander, Marshal Air Roshan Goonetileke, who is the Chief Security Advisor of the SLC, briefed the players about the security situation in Pakistan and the security arrangements PCB plans on implementing during Sri Lanka team’s tour of that country, whilst Chairman of the National Selection Panel Mr. Asantha De Mel, explained about the selection policy for future tours. He said, players will be given the freedom to decide on either taking part or not in the forthcoming Pakistan tour.”, a Sri Lanka board official said the same to PTI.
A source from Pakistan cricket, on the other hand, said that this is an internal matter of Sri Lanka cricket and they are concentrating on the preparations currently.
“Technically it is an internal matter of the Sri Lankan board so we can’t comment on it. But the bottom line is that the tour is on from 25th September and we are making all preparations to host them in Karachi and Lahore,” PTI quoted the source as saying.
