Sri Lanka embarked on the first Test cricket tour of Pakistan in 10 years on Monday following the deadly 2009 attack on their team that plunged Pakistan into sporting isolation.
“Touchdown Islamabad,” tweeted the Pakistan Cricket Board, along with video of the players at the airport, while Pakistan Cricket Board chief executive Waseem Khan called their arrival a “historic occasion”.
Sri Lanka will play two Tests under heavy security, one in Rawalpindi — where Pakistan’s army is headquartered — and the second in Karachi, ending a decade-long absence for cricket’s five-day format since the attack.
“This is my first tour to Pakistan,” said Sri Lanka skipper Dimuth Karunaratne, who opted out of the team’s recent limited-overs tour of Pakistan.
“After the 2009 incidents players were scared to tour Pakistan but in the last two years or so Sri Lanka and other teams have toured Pakistan.”
He added: “We want to play good cricket in Pakistan and hope they give us some good security.”
None of the players on Pakistan’s current roster, including skipper Azhar Ali (75 Tests) and Asad Shafiq (71), has played a Test at home.