Pakistan cancels pre-World Cup team bonding trip to Dubai due to delay in visas: Report

New Delhi, Sep 23 (IANS) Pakistan have been forced to cancel their team bonding trip to Dubai ahead of the upcoming Men’s ODI World Cup in India due to delay in getting visas.

As per a report in ESPNCricinfo, the Pakistan team was due to fly to the UAE early next week and reside there for a couple of days before flying to Hyderabad, ahead of their first warm-up game against New Zealand on September 29.

But due to the delay in visas, Pakistan now plan to fly out of Lahore to Dubai early next Wednesday and fly to Hyderabad from there. “Although one official said the situation was "alarming", there does appear to be general confidence that the visas will arrive in time for Pakistan to travel. The application for visas is understood to have been made over a week ago,” said the report.

It added that Pakistan is the only traveling team for the Men’s ODI World Cup who are still awaiting their visas for coming to India. Pakistan have been to India just once in the last ten years, for playing in the Men’s T20 World Cup in March 2016.

Pakistan’s participation for the Men’s ODI World Cup was given an approval in August, especially after a long-drawn debate over hosting the Asia Cup. Pakistan had the tournament hosting rights, but hosted only four games as the majority of the tournament was played in Sri Lanka in a hybrid model proposed by ex-PCB head Najam Sethi.

Pakistan, the 1992 champions, will play two warm-ups matches – against New Zealand on September 29 and Australia on October 3 – before their World Cup tournament opener takes place against the Netherlands on October 6 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.