Pak vs Aus: Australia arrived in Pakistan on Sunday for their first cricket tour in nearly two decades, and into a high-security bubble that will surround them for the duration of their six-week stay.
After touching down in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, senior batsman Steve Smith shared a photo on Twitter of the 35-strong Australia tour group inside their charter flight’s cabin.
Arrived in 🇵🇰 pic.twitter.com/pnis0ckFeO
— Steve Smith (@stevesmith49) February 27, 2022
Since a deadly terror attack on a visiting Sri Lankan team’s bus in 2009, Pakistan has struggled to lure international teams. After a suicide bombing at a church in Lahore five years ago, Australia cancelled a tour.
They last visited Pakistan in 1998, where they won the three-match Test series 1-0 and blanked the hosts in three one-day internationals.
Pakistan appeared to have satisfied international cricket authorities last year, with both New Zealand and England slated to tour. Pakistan had been obliged to play their home games abroad, largely in the United Arab Emirates.
However, the Black Caps abruptly left in September, only minutes before their first match, citing security concerns, and England’s men’s and women’s teams both postponed tours shortly after.
The decisions infuriated Pakistan cricket officials, who believed they had done everything necessary to secure the safety and security of the players.
They claim to be taking no chances this time, with around 4,000 police and military personnel stationed at the team accommodation in Islamabad and the cricket stadium in Rawalpindi, a neighbouring garrison city.
The high-level security, which is usually designated for visiting heads of state, reassured Australia captain Pat Cummins.
“It’s comforting,” said Cummins after being rushed in a heavily-guarded vehicle to the team’s Islamabad hotel. “We are really lucky to be surrounded by so many professionals.
“Absolutely feel incredibly safe. Lots of security, straight off the plane and straight to the hotel.”
Pak vs Aus | There are no distractions
A representative for Pakistan’s interior ministry, said “such arrangements are only made for high-level foreign delegations, (and) the president and prime minister of Pakistan,”
When the Australian team makes the 15-kilometre (11-mile) journey from the capital to the stadium, roads will be closed and army helicopters will follow their team bus.
Snipers will be stationed on adjoining buildings, while nearby stores and offices have been instructed to close on match days, according to the interior ministry.
For matches in Karachi and Lahore, similar preparations would be made.
The Australians will be isolated in their rooms for 24 hours while waiting for the results of Covid testing, before beginning intensive training on Monday in preparation for the first Test on March 4.
“We will be pretty much confined to the hotel but we have travelled to India and places like that a lot where you probably don’t leave the hotel too much, so we are used to it,” said Cummins.
“There are no distractions other than the cricket.”
Despite the fact that more than half of Pakistan’s 220 million people were not even born when Australia last toured (the median age is 22.8), stadiums are likely to be crowded as the country emerges largely unhurt from the Covid epidemic’s Omicron stage.
Cummins was pleased to see international cricket return to Pakistan.
“We always know that Pakistan is an incredible cricket nation,” said Cummins who led Australia to 4-0 Ashes win in his first assignment as captain.
“We feel lucky that we get to come back here after a whole generation didn’t get that opportunity to come and play Test or any cricket here.”
Before the Australians depart on April 6, the teams will play three Tests, three one-day internationals, and one Twenty20 match.
In the next 13 months, Pakistan will host eight Tests, 11 One-Day Internationals, and 13 Twenty20 Internationals.
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