The Pakistan cricket team led by Babar Azam landed in Hyderabad on Wednesday evening where they will play two warm-up matches ahead of the ICC World Cup 2023.
There was a huge gathering of cricket fans and security officials at the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in the city to welcome the Pakistan squad.
Notably, this is the first time in 7 years that the Pakistan cricket team is coming to India with their previous trip being the 2016 T20 World Cup.
Barring Mohammad Nawaz and Salman Agha, this is the first time the current players of the national team are visiting India.
The Men in Green will be fighting to win their second ODI World Cup title, and first since 1992.
The 33-member Pakistani contingent left Lahore in the wee hours of Wednesday and reached Hyderabad via Dubai late evening, less than two days after getting their visas to travel to India for the World Cup.
Pakistan and Afghanistan were the last two teams to get their visas for India. Afghanistan arrived here a day earlier.
"The BCCI has assured the ICC that all teams will be provided the best security and will be well looked after so I don't expect anything different for our team. I don't think our team will face any issues in India," head of PCB management committee Zaka Ashraf told reporters before team's departure.
Pakistan's scheduled before World Cup
Pakistan is scheduled to play a warm-up game against New Zealand in Hyderabad on September 29. The Men in Green will then play the second practice game against Australia in the same city on October 3.
They will remain in Hyderabad their opening two World Cup games against Netherlands and Sri Lanka on October 6 and 10 respectively before flying to Ahmedabad for the marquee clash against hosts India on October 14.
Ahead of the team's departure, Babar had spoken about his excitement over playing in India especially Ahmedabad where the arch-rivals lock horns in front of a one lakh plus crowd.
"Although we have not played in India before, we are not taking too much pressure. We have done our research and we have heard the conditions are similar to how they play out in other Asian countries," Babar had in the pre-departure media conference.
