The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has changed the venue for the Pakistan ‘A’ and Afghanistan match, which was scheduled to be hosted by the northern city of Abbottabad - the town where the world's most-wanted man, Osama Bin Laden was shot dead by US Navy SEALs earlier this month.
"The itinerary...has been revised and now the Abbottabad match will be played in Islamabad on May 25", said a Pakistan Cricket Board official, while talking to a leading news agency.
The decision was taken after the Pakistan Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, called on PCB Chairman, Ijaz Butt, on Thursday 19 May, 2011. No official reason was given by the board for rescheduling of the match.
Afghanistan’s national cricket team and Pakistan’s ‘A” team are scheduled to play a three-match One Day International (ODI) series in Pakistan this summer and the opener of the series was scheduled to be hosted in Abbottabad.
The fact that the Taliban leader was killed by US forces in Abbottabad on May 2, 2011, attracted media attention from around the world and raised serious security concerns. Now, PCB officials have decided to relocate the match to its capital city of Islamabad.
Fast bowler, Sohail Tanveer, will lead Pakistan's second team, which includes young players, or, those, who have been left out of the national side.
The Afghanistan team, which is being coached by former wicketkeeper captain of Pakistan, Rashid Latif, will reach Islamabad on Tuesday 24 May, 2011.
The war-hit nation has made rapid progress in international cricket over the past couple of years. They progressed from ICC division one to five in 2009. The side was also given One Day status in the same year.
The associate side also qualified for the 2010 World Twenty20 Championship in the West Indies. Another hallmark the Afghanistan team achieved last year was that they qualified for the Asian Games final after beating a second string Pakistan side in the semi-finals. Though they could not prevail against the Bengali Tigers, they finished the tournament with a silver medal.
Afghanistan also won the ICC Inter-Continental Cup title, one of the prime competitions meant for nations, who are not full ICC members.
Afghanistan is the first international team to visit Pakistan since March 2009, when the Sri Lanka team bus was attacked by militants in Lahore.
Three matches between the teams are scheduled to be played in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, and, Faisalabad on 25th, 27th and 29th May respectively.
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