LAHORE: The president of the Zimbabwe cricket board has confirmed that the team will be coming to Pakistan as per schedule, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Shahryar Khan told reporters on Friday.
“Zimbabwe Cricket Board president Wilson Manase called me 10 minutes ago and confirmed that the team is coming to Pakistan on schedule,” the PCB chairman told reporters in Lahore.
The scheduled tour was thrown into limbo after a deadly terrorist attack on a bus killed 46 members of a minority community in Karachi.
In a bizarre turnaround on Thursday, Zimbabwe first cancelled but then retracted their decision within 16 minutes.
Zimbabwe Cricket initially released a statement saying that a decision had been reached not to tour on the advice of the country’s supreme sports regulatory authority, the Sports and Recreation Commission (SRC). The SRC had cited concerns over the safety of the touring party.
But PCB Chairman Shahryar Khan now says that the Zimbabwe cricket board has confirmed that the planned tour will go ahead as scheduled.
“He called me and confirmed that the tour will go ahead as per schedule. He also said that they will send this in writing,” he said.
Shahryar confirmed that the Zimbabwe team would arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday and will play five matches with the Pakistan team as planned.
Zimbabwe are scheduled to arrive on May 19 and play two Twenty20 internationals on May 22 and 24 and three one-day internationals on May 26, 29 and 31. All matches are to be played in Lahore.
No Test team has visited Pakistan since militants attacked the visiting Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.
A five-man security delegation from Zimbabwe last week toured Lahore to assess the security arrangements and have briefed their government.
