Eight Sri Lankan players set to return home from Pakistan due to safety concerns

COLOMBO: Eight Sri Lankan players, currently touring Pakistan with the national team for a three-match ODI series, are set to return home on Thursday after expressing concern over their safety following a deadly bomb blast in Islamabad that left 12 people dead and several injured, a SLC source said on Wednesday.

The development means the second ODI scheduled in Rawalpindi on Thursday will not happen.

Pakistan had won the first ODI by six runs at the same venue on Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan team is also scheduled to play a triangular series, involving the hosts and Zimbabwe, after the three ODIs.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources said replacements will be sent for those returning home.

Sources in SLC added that because of the proximity of Rawalpindi, where the ODIs are being played, to Islamabad was the reason the players expressed the desire to return home.

In 2009, the Sri Lankan cricket team bus was attacked by gunmen when it was on its way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for the second Test.

Several members of the Sri Lankan team, including Ajantha Mendis, Chaminda Vaas and captain Mahela Jayawardene, were injured while many Pakistani security personnel were killed.

Following the deadly attack, all foreign teams refrained from visiting Pakistan for over a decade and the country was compelled to use offshore venues in the Middle East to host its home matches.

Coincidentally, it was Sri Lanka's tour of Pakistan in December 2019 which signalled the return of international cricket to the country.

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