Pakistan T20 squad leaves for India after security assurance

LAHORE: Pakistan cricket team on Friday night left for India via Abu Dhabi to participate in World Cup Twenty20 after getting full security assurances from Indian authorities.

The 15-men squad led by skipper Shahid Khan Afridi left for Abu Dhabi from where the green shirts will travel to Kolkata on Saturday evening.

Head coach Waqar Younus and Manager Intikhab Alam are among the 12 officials of from Pakistan.

On Friday, Pakistan´s Interior Ministry cleared the national cricket team to travel to India for the World Twenty20 after getting the full security assurances from Indian authorities following concerns about player safety, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) said.

Pakistan had earlier said its men´s and women´s teams would travel to India only after New Delhi gave a public guarantee on the safety of its players.

After a solid guarantee from New Delhi, Pakistan’s men’s and women’s cricket teams had been given a go ahead to travel to India.

Both teams were scheduled to depart for India earlier this week, but the departure was put on hold due to the controversy over security assurances.

The ICC moved Pakistan-India clash from Dharamsala to Kolkata, after the report of a three-member delegation from Pakistan that visited India to assess security arrangements in Dharamshala.