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'That's Unfortunate': Babar Azam Opens Up On Pakistan’s World Cup 2023 Visa Issue

image-ln05qxq0Pakistan captain Babar Azam (AP)

Pakistan cricket team is set to embark on its journey to India for the forthcoming 2023 Cricket World Cup. Slated to launch their tournament campaign with a match against Netherlands on October 6, the ‘Men in Green’ will also play a warm-up game against New Zealand later this week.

As it turned out, arranging Pakistan’s travel plans to India proved to be a challenging process. According to reports, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) applied for Indian visas on September 19, a full week before their planned departure. The entire approval process typically takes only five days. However, the PCB expressed its dissatisfaction with the delay in approval and levelled serious allegations against India regarding their indifferent treatment of their neighbours.

After considerable effort and frustration, the Pakistan team management finally received their visas just a day before their scheduled departure. Furthermore, the Indian government has granted visas to only a handful of Pakistan fans and journalists, resulting in expectations of an insufficient presence of Pakistani fans in the stadium for the tournament.

Speaking on the visa delay controversy for the first time, Pakistan captain Babar Azam finally gave his take over the matter during a recent pre-departure press conference in Lahore.

Babar Azam says team will miss fans at the WC 2023

Pakistan captain Babar Azam recently interacted with the media in Lahore a day prior to team’s transit in Dubai for a flight to Hyderabad in India. When asked if he and the rest of his teammates will be missing Pakistan fans across the Indian stadiums owing to the issuance of limited visas, he said:


“That’s unfortunate. Of course, we will miss our fans in India. But I heard that all our World Cup 2023 matches in India have been sold out, even our non-India games. It is good news for us that fans in India are eager to see us play. I’m going there for the first time but I have heard that travelling Pakistan teams have usually received good support from the Indian public.”

“Obviously we will still miss our fans. But I know they will not remain silent; they will still find a way to support either through social media or by other means. We always receive their support.”

Pakistan team, under Babar Azam, will play their first World Cup 2023 match on October 6 against Netherlands. The much-awaited contest is slated to be played at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.