Pakistan cricket team have been reportedly forced to cancel their plans of holding a two-day camp in Dubai before flying to India for the world event due to visa issues.
As per report by ESPNCricinfo, Pakistan will now fly to Dubai from Lahore and will later head to Hyderabad to play their warm-up fixture against New Zealand provided they get their visas on time.
Pakistan is the only team among the nine who are yet to get their visas for the World Cup in India. However, PCB officials remain hopeful that the Pakistan cricketers and support staff will get the required visa approvals from India before their departure for Hyderabad.
The visa delay is nothing new and it only highlights the political tension between India and Pakistan. Travel between the countries has been limited ever since the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 which also halted the bilateral ties between India and Pakistan.
Since then, only one bilateral series between India and Pakistan has taken place and that was when Misbah-ul-Haq-led Pakistan travelled to India in 2012-13 for a short white-ball series.
Pakistan, meanwhile, called up experienced paceman Hasan Ali to their World Cup squad on Friday to replace the injured Naseem Shah.