Sri Lankan Team Arrive in Lahore For 3rd T20 Amid Tight Security

The Sri Lankan cricket team arrived in Lahore, eight years after they suffered a gun and grenade attack, under heavy security to play the final Twenty20 International of a three-match series against Pakistan.

International cricket was suspended in Pakistan after the 2009 gun attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore, which left eight people killed and seven visiting players and their staff members injured.

Upon their arrival on Saturday, the Sri Lankan players and the officials were taken to a five-star hotel in a bomb-proof bus with hundreds of elite police commandos and the paramilitary rangers providing high level security.

Several Lankan players and officials, including the survivors who came under gunfire in 2009 and their head coach, had opted out of the Twenty20 fixture after some voiced concern about security.

The 24-member strong Sri Lankan



contingent became the first major international team to visit the country since the incident.

In the last eight years, Pakistan have only managed to get minnows Zimbabwe to tour Lahore in 2015, besides hosting the final of Pakistan Super League and a three-match Twenty20 series against a World XI – comprised of players from seven countries –earlier this year.

The attack on the Sri Lankan team led to international teams refusing to tour Pakistan and the ICC also relocated all matches of the 2011 World Cup, which were to be held in Pakistan, because no one was willing to play in the country.

Sri Lanka have played two Tests, five One-day Internationals and the first two Twenty20 matches of the series in the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan's neutral venue since 2009.

But Sri Lanka agreed to travel to Pakistan for the third and final T20 match.