Security issues: SL players’ concerns put Pakistan tour in jeopardy

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s cricket board is reconsidering plans to play a match against Pakistan in Lahore later this month after its players expressed security concerns, officials said on Saturday.

Sri Lanka are currently scheduled to play their third Twenty20 match of the series in Lahore on October 29, just over eight years after its team was ambushed by gunmen in the same city.

If it went ahead, the match would be the first played in Pakistan by Sri Lanka since militants attacked its team bus en route to the Gaddafi stadium in 2009, wounding at least seven players.

But the board cast doubt on its team’s return to the country on Saturday, saying it would study security assessments provided by both Sri Lanka and Pakistan governments as well as independent reports and possibly make a decision on Monday (tomorrow), an official said.

“A few players have expressed reservations, but about 20 players (out of 40 contracted by the board) have confirmed their willingness to play in Lahore,” the board official told AFP.

Under the current schedule, Lahore is to host the Twenty20 series finale. Earlier matches are to be played between the sides in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where Pakistan play their “home” internationals.

Since 2009, only Zimbabwe have visited Pakistan. They played five limited-overs games in Lahore in 2015.

But after Pakistan successfully staged the final of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in Lahore under heavy security this March, the country hoped international games could once again be played there.

A successful series against a World XI team featuring top foreign players in Lahore last month further boosted calls for cricket to return to Pakistan.

Sri Lanka Cricket chief Thilanga Sumathipala in August appealed for an end to Pakistan’s isolation — a statement welcomed by Pakistani cricket officials — and urged countries to play there.

He recalled that several Test nations did not want to visit Sri Lanka at the height of the Tamil separatist conflict, when bombs were exploding in the capital in the mid-1990s, but Pakistan and India had toured Sri Lanka at the time.

“I don’t think the players will change their stance,” a cricketer, who was among the 40 contracted players who signed the letter, said.

Not only were Suranga Lakmal and Chamara Kapugedera physically present on the bus that was attacked in Lahore in 2009, the other players are aware of the trauma suffered by those on board.

SLC CEO Ashley de Silva said player security remained the board’s primary concern, and that “a decision will be made at the ex-co meeting taking into account all the security information”.

But other officials, such as president Thilanga, appear very keen on the team traveling to Pakistan. The board is expected to make an appeal to the players over the next few days. The country’s sports ministry is also keen to send a team.

Both parties have tread softly so far, out of a desire not to incense the other: the players have stopped short of issuing a categorical refusal; the board has at no stage indicated there would be punishments for players who decline to travel.

But for the other major party in the equation, the PCB, a refusal from Sri Lanka’s main players would amount to a setback.

SLC officials were quick to point out that not only have Sri Lanka’s players been promised the same level of security afforded to the World XI team in September, but that the ICC was also content to now send its match officials to Pakistan.

If the majority of players are unconvinced by SLC’s overtures, however, the board may consider sending a second-string team comprised of those who are willing to travel.

Thisara Perera, who played in the World XI series, is understood to be favourable towards traveling to Lahore again.