Sri Lankan team receives security threats to its team; to reevaluate its tour to Pakistan

10 star players including Lasith Malinga, Angelo Mathews and Thisara Perera have refused to tour to Pakistan.

Sri Lanka board has received threat of a possible terrorist attack on its team in Pakistan | AFPThe Sri Lankan Cricket Board has announced on Wednesday that they will be reassessing their tour to Pakistan and the security details in the country after its team received threats of a possible terrorist attack.

Sri Lanka Cricket today sought the assistance of the Sri Lankan Government to conduct a ‘Reassessment’ of the security situation in Pakistan ahead of the National Team’s planned tour to Pakistan,” SLC said.

The warning highlights that the Prime Minister’s Office has received reliable information of a possible terrorist threat on the Sri Lankan team while touring Pakistan. Hence, SLC has been advised to take extreme care, and ‘reassess’ the situation, before embarking on the said tour,” the Sri Lanka board added.

This comes as a further obstacle to the Emerald Islanders’ upcoming visit, given that 10 of their A-List superstars have refused to go on the tour. These players include ODI and T20I captain Dimuth Karunaratne, Lasith Malinga, Thisara Perera and Angelo Mathews amongst others.

This forced the SL board to name a weakened squad with Lahiru Thirimanne leading the ODI team and Dasun Shanaka leading the T20I team.

Meanwhile, Pakistan scheduled the limited-overs series first to showcase upgraded security to the Sri Lankan cricketers to quell fears of a March 2009 like terrorist attack which has led to the country missing cricket action at home for a decade. The PCB hopes of hosting Sri Lanka for a Test series as well- first one on home soil.

(Reuters inputs)

 
 

By Jatin Sharma - 11 Sep, 2019

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