600 tickets for Pakistan-Zimbabwe match ‘stolen’

Sport Desk: Nearly 600 tickets worth Rs1500 each were allegedly stolen on Friday from The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) headquarters in Lahore, according to media reports.

The PCB has registered an FIR while the police have caught a person named Azam selling tickets in black from the Gulberg area of Lahore.

Zimbabwe confirmed on last Friday that they will go ahead with the tour, including two T20Is and three ODIs, despite an attack on a Karachi bus on Wednesday that left 45 people dead.

The express tribune reported, it may be a low-key affair in strictly cricketing terms, but Friday’s opening Twenty20 clash between Pakistan and Zimbabwe in Lahore represents a chance for the hosts to show they are once again open for business.

Cast into sporting exile following the 2009 attacks on the Sri Lankan team, Pakistan have incurred financial losses amounting to $120 million by having to play their “home” games on neutral venues like the UAE, according to an official estimate.

No Test-playing country has visited Pakistan since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore six years ago, killing eight people and injuring seven players.

Zimbabwe agreed to the tour, which also includes three one-day internationals, only after being promised a level of security usually reserved for heads of state, involving 6,000 policemen and paramilitary troops and helicopters buzzing overheard.


Agencies

risingbd/ May 22, 2015/ Nesar/ Mahfuz