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After a prolonged delay and less than 48 hours before the team is scheduled to depart for Hyderabad through Dubai, the International Cricket Council (ICC) has verified that the Indian government has accepted visas for the Pakistani team flying to the ODI World Cup, as ESPNcricinfo reported.
Several hours after the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) wrote to the ICC to express its concern with the delay in the issue of the visas, the approval was granted on Monday. Pakistan's plans to travel to Dubai for a pre-World Cup team bonding trip was cancelled as the team was waiting for their visas to travel to India. The 'Men in Green' were supposed to fly to the UAE next week and stay there for a couple of days before heading to Hyderabad for their first warm-up game against New Zealand on September 29. Pakistan will open their World Cup campaign against The Netherlands on October 6 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad. Last week, Pakistan named a 15-player squad for the World Cup with Babar Azam leading the squad. But they will be missing the presence of their star pacer Naseem Shah who picked up niggle injury during their Super Four clash against India at the Asia Cup. He was off the field during the middle of his over and later ruled out of the competition. Hasan Ali has been named in the squad as Naseem's replacement. Pakistans renowned pace attack will be led by Shaheen Shah Afridi. Backing him will be Haris Rauf, Mohammed Waseem, and Hasan Ali. Pakistan squad for the upcoming World Cup: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim. (ANI)
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