Mohsin Naqvi Reveals How Pakistan Stopped Sri Lanka Players After Islamabad Blast | Cricket News

Mohsin Naqvi.

(AP Photo)

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief Mohsin Naqvi has revealed that the top brass of the country’s military directly intervened to salvage the Sri Lankan cricket team’s tour following the suicide attack in Islamabad. He told the country’s Senate that after some visiting players wanted to return home because they feared for their safety, Field Marshal Asim Munir facilitated the talks with Sri Lanka’s top officials and convinced them to stay.

Hours after the reports came through, Sri Lankan Cricket (SLC) released a statement saying that it had engaged with all concerned players and ‘instructed’ them to continue with the tour. It also threatened to conduct a ‘formal review’ if any player were to leave ‘despite SLC’s directives’.

“Our field marshal himself spoke to their defence minister, secretary and convinced them and assured them fully of [providing] security,” Naqvi, also the Pakistan interior minister, said while speaking on the Senate floor, as quoted by news agency PTI.

“Our interaction with them began, their board, players, and everyone decided with great bravery to stay here,” the PCB chairman added. “They had many concerns, but we tried to allay all of those,” Naqvi said.

He highlighted that Sri Lanka’s President Anura Kumara Dissanayake spoke with his country’s team to convince them, too.

“And now, the Pakistan Army, Rangers and Islamabad police together are managing their security, and we are providing them the same kind of protocol and security as they are our state guests,” Naqvi said.

The suicide blast in Islamabad claimed at least 12 lives, occurring just hours before the scheduled first ODI between Pakistan and Sri Lanka in Rawalpindi. The incident revived memories of the 2009 Lahore attack, when the Sri Lankan team bus was targeted by gunmen, injuring six players and killing six police officers and two civilians.

Zimbabwe series tweaked

Naqvi also confirmed that Zimbabwe has arrived in Pakistan, with all remaining matches of the series now shifted to Rawalpindi. The series will begin on November 18, a day later than originally planned, after being moved from Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium due to security concerns.