Visa delay forces Pakistan to cancel pre-World Cup trip to Dubai

Pakistan had scheduled a team bonding trip to Dubai for their players ahead of the Cricket World Cup 2023. However, a delay in acquiring their visa to travel to India for the showpiece event forced them to change their plans.

According to their original plans, the Pakistani players were to spend a few days in Dubai before heading to India ahead of their first warm-up match against New Zealand on September 29.

As per ESPNcricinfo, Pakistan will fly to Dubai from Lahore on Wednesday and travel to Hyderabad from there. The report also suggested that the Men in Green are the only side yet to receive their visas.

It is worth mentioning that Pakistan last visited India in 2016 for the T20 World Cup. The two neighboring countries haven't competed against each other in a bilateral series since 2012-13. However, they continue to meet in the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) and International Cricket Council (ICC) events.

Notably, Pakistan's warm-up match against New Zealand in Hyderabad will be played behind closed doors due to security reasons.

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Pakistan announced their 15-member ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 squad on Friday

Pakistan's chief selector Inzamam Ul Haq announced the team's 15-member squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 on Friday, September 22.

Babar Azam will continue leading the team while Shadab Khan also retained vice-captaincy for the ICC event. Naseem Shah was ruled out of the tournament due to a shoulder injury that he sustained during the Asia Cup 2023 earlier this month.

Hasan Ali replaced Naseem in Paksitan's squad. Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Haris, who were part of the lineup for the Asia Cup, failed to make it to the main squad this time around.

Mohammad Haris, Zaman Khan, and Abrar Ahmed were named as Pakistan's traveling reserves.

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Abdullah Shafique, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Shaheen Afridi, Saud Shakeel, Hasan Ali.