Kolkata: Pakistan’s World Twenty20 warm-up match against Bengal scheduled on Saturday has been cancelled even as the deadlock over their participation in the mega event was over on Friday evening after the Pakistan government gave a green signal to the team to travel to India.
Pakistan were to take on Ranji team Bengal in their opening warm-up match on Saturday but owing to the delay over their arrival, it had to be cancelled, according to sources in the Cricket Association of Bengal.
Head of PCB Executive Committee Najam Sethi on Friday said his country’s government has decided to allow the team to travel to India for World T20.
Sethi added that the team will either leave on Friday night or on Saturday morning for Dubai and then to India.
Due to the delay in arrival of Pakistan, the distribution of tickets for the marquee India-Pakistan clash on March 19 which was shifted from Dharamsala also got delayed and will now begin on March 16.
“We’re yet to get the tickets and their stamping and other procedures will take time. Distribution will only start from March 16,” the source told PTI.
Pakistan are also scheduled to face defending champions Sri Lanka in a second warm-up match at Eden Gardens (March 14) before facing group A qualifiers (March 16) and India (March 19) in the tournament proper.
There has been intense drama over Pakistan’s participation in the ongoing World Twenty20 after they threatened to pull out of the tournament citing security concerns.
PCB wanted a written assurance from the Indian Government for the security of their team.
Meanwhile, defending champions Sri Lanka and Australia arrived as per schedule ahead of their respective World Twenty20 fixtures.
Fresh from their 3-1 T20 series win in South Africa, Australia arrived early morning via Dubai.
In search of an elusive WT20 title, record five-time World Cup champions Australia will face West Indies in their warm-up fixture on March 13.
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