Bangalore, December 23: Amid unprecedented security arrangements, the Pakistan cricket team arrived here on Saturday night for its first bilateral series since the 26/11 Mumbai terrorist attacks in 2008.
Following the brutal carnage, India had cancelled all the bilateral engagements with its neighbours and had excluded Pakistan players from the cash-rich Indian Premier League.
More than four years after the horrific incident allegedly plotted in Pakistan and relations between the two countries seemingly on the mend, Pakistan will begin its Indian campaign with a T20 International here at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, that has turned into a fortress for the December 25 match.
Pakistan is scheduled to play another T20 in Ahmedabad (December 28) followed by three one-dayers in Chennai (December 30), Kolkata (January 3) and Delhi (January 6).
The last time the two archrivals met was in Sri Lanka during the World T20 in October, a match India won comfortably. Prior to this, the M S Dhoni-led team had tamed Pakistan in Mohali in the semifinal of the 2011 World Cup which eventually it won in Mumbai, beating Sri Lanka in the final match.
This, however, is the first bilateral series after the visit by a Pakistani team towards the end of 2007. This was in fact India’s turn to travel across the border for a return series but there has been no international cricket in Pakistan since the March 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan team and India were reluctant to play in a “neutral venue.”
After months of discussions between the two cricket boards, India agreed to host Pakistan for a short series, squeezing it in the gap between England T20s which concluded on Saturday and ODIs that begin on January 11.
Notwithstanding the huge excitement that the rubber has generated, there have been a few fringe elements which are up in arms against India hosting the arch-rivals. Threats like laying siege to the stadium to digging the playing arena haven’t been taken lightly from those responsible for the security. The organisers at the Chinnaswamy Stadium have used iron railings to barricade an area of about 30 metres from the pitch as a precautionary measure.
While local outfits have made their disapproval clear, the Taliban, too, described the Pakistan team's tour as a “disgusting gesture” and held out threats of violence against India.
In a statement emailed to journalists, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said the “visit of Pakistani team to India is a disgusting gesture. Pakistan's government is doing all this on the orders of their god America and in fear of India. God willing, mujahideen of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan will soon clear the debt of blood of martyrs with India.”
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