Pakistani players await Indian visa as unexpected delay hampers World Cup preparations

ISLAMABAD – As political tensions continue unabated between Pakistan and India, Green Shirts canceled the pre-World Cup Dubai tour as players are still awaiting visas to travel to neighboring nation.

Babar XI was slated to travel to Dubia and stay for some days before traveling to India, ahead of their first warm-up game against Kiwis. However, the situation raised concerns within Pakistani team, as application for Indian visas was submitted a week ago and there's no good news for travel.

As World Cup is set to be started in less than two week, Men in Green are the only squad of nine sides who are still waiting to get visas.

Fans are not lucky to see any bilateral series between Pakistan, and India for nearly a decade. In the last 10 years, Pakistani team only visited India once, which was for the T20 World Cup in March 2016.

Amid the unexpected delay in the visa, Pakistani chief selector Inzamalul Haq announced the squad that includes Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafiq, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), M Wasim Jnr, Saud Shakeel, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi, and Usama Mir. Mohammad Haris, Zaman Khan, Abrar Ahmed are in reserves.

The ICC World Cup 2023 will be held in India, featuring 10 teams competing for the coveted title across 10 venues from October 5 to November 19. The tournament will kick off and conclude at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

The format will be round-robin, with each team playing all the others in 45 league matches. The top four teams will advance to the semifinals, scheduled for November 15 in Mumbai and November 16 in Kolkata, with reserve days allocated for the semi-finals and the final.