Pakistan Cricket Team yet to receive Indian Visas

As reported, The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been in contact with the ICC about the matter all through.

On Monday, less than 48 hours before the Pakistan team’s scheduled departure, PCB in a letter written to the ICC complained and said that such inequitable treatment to Pakistan – the only team participating in the World Cup without visas at the moment – will not be tolerated.

In the email, the PCB has asked the ICC what steps the global body intends to take to resolve the issue, and has also asked whether, in line with the obligations of a host board, written confirmations had been provided by the BCCI – or on behalf of the Indian government – that visas will be provided to all participating nations. The PCB has also raised the question of whether the inability to provide visas in time for the squad to travel constitutes a breach of the hosting agreement of the World Cup.

As things stand, the Pakistan Team along with the managers is due to fly out to Dubai in the early hours of Wednesday (September 27), and after transit, it will board the flight for Hyderabad on Wednesday evening.

Pakistan is scheduled to play its first warm-up game on Friday, against New Zealand, in Hyderabad.

“There has been an extraordinary delay in getting clearance and securing Indian visas for the Pakistan team for the ICC World Cup,” PCB spokesperson Umar Farooq said in a statement.

“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 this uncertainty ahead of the major tournament. We have been reminding [the organizers] 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 to the issuance of visas.”