ABU DHABI: Pakistan and Sri Lanka teams will leave for Lahore tonight, where they will play the third and final T20I match of the series on Sunday in a history-making moment for the country.
The Sri Lankan team, led by all-rounder Thisara Perera after Upal Tharanga pulled out of the fixture, will depart from Abu Dhabi at 10pm and touch down in Lahore at 2:25am.
Pakistan squad will depart from Dubai via a different flight tonight and reach Lahore at 1:50am.
The Green Shirts already lead the T20I series 2-0, after beating Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the opening game and winning a last-ball thriller in the second T20I.
Sunday’s game will mark the homecoming of top-level international cricket as Sri Lanka become the first major cricket team to visit Pakistan since they were targeted in a deadly ambush in 2009 — with attack survivors among those returning to the scene.
Tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed in Lahore for the occasion. They will guard routes to the stadium, and air surveillance and intelligence monitoring is also in place as Pakistan rolls out head-of-state level measures.