Ind-Pak in Dharamsala will definitely happen, says tournament director

ICC WT20

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The India-Pakistan match of the World T20, scheduled to be held in Dharamsala on March 19, will definitely happen, the tournament director MV Sridhar has said. “The country has been waiting” for the match, he told reporters after meeting India’s federal home minister, Rajnath Singh, in New Delhi on Tuesday evening.

The match has been under a cloud since the Himachal Pradesh provincial government expressed doubts over the safety of the players. It prompted Pakistan’s government and cricket board to delay the departure of its women cricketers for the parallel tournament and to send a security team to inspect arrangements in India.

That team is expected to report back to the Pakistan government on Tuesday and ESPNcricinfo understands it might recommend that Pakistan push for the match to be moved out of Dharamsala.

Sridhar, though, was unambiguous about the match’s prospects. “The security is excellent, I have seen it myself,” he said. “The state government has assured us they will provide complete security.”

He said the Pakistan delegation had visited Dharamsala on Monday, as had the district magistrate and the state Inspector-General of Police, and had inspected the ground and all the facilities for the team and security.

Speaking separately, the state’s chief minister Virbhadra Singh denied that his government had refused to provide security but said that public sentiment in the state was against the match going ahead.