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Officials are currently engaged in desperate, high-level efforts to persuade the visitors to remain
Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan. (File pic/AP)
The longer term of Sri Lanka’s cricket tour of Pakistan hangs in precarious balance as reports surface that a big variety of visiting players—as many as sixteen—have decided to return home immediately, citing severe security concerns following a deadly suicide blast in nearby Islamabad. This potential exodus, viewed by sources as a “massive setback”, threatens to halt the international game’s tentative return to Pakistani soil.
Sources throughout the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirm that several players are unwilling to proceed with the remaining bilateral matches and the next tri-series, with officials currently engaged in desperate, high-level efforts to persuade the tourists to remain. PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, who also serves because the country’s Federal Interior Minister, has personally met with the team to guarantee them of “foolproof security”, dramatically enhancing the protection detail with the deployment of Army and paramilitary Rangers. Despite these assurances, the proximity of the match venue in Rawalpindi to the attack site in Islamabad has revived painful memories of the 2009 terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus, heavily influencing the players’ apprehension.
Adding a volatile political dimension to the crisis, intelligence sources in India have reportedly assessed the blast as a possible attempt by state-backed elements in Pakistan to sow a narrative of instability, potentially in search of global sympathy. This assessment suggests a pattern wherein Pakistan-based groups might leverage such incidents accountable external forces, specifically aiming to link the attack to foreign interference to deflect scrutiny from domestic radical networks. These top intelligence sources further argue that this event is consistent with a pattern of Pakistan utilising sporting events to hunt international legitimacy, suggesting the potential of “covertly allowing controlled chaos for global attention”.
While Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) stays keen for the tour to proceed as scheduled, with contingency plans reportedly being readied to send alternative players for the tri-nation series, the players’ firm stand on security has left the immediate way forward for the matches highly uncertain.
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
Group Editor, Investigations & Security Affairs, Network18
November 12, 2025, 23:27 IST
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