Pakistan arrive in Bengaluru; team celebrates Babar Azam’s birthday

Bengaluru: Pakistan players chose to confine themselves to their hotel rooms upon their arrival here from Ahmedabad on Sunday, but the relatively low-key touchdown did not prevent them from celebrating the birthday of captain Babar Azam.

The players cut a cake at the team hotel as Babar turned 29 on Sunday.

“It was a small function attended by the players and support staff. There were not many activities today as it was a travel day, and the team will soon start preparations for the upcoming matches,” said an official travelling with the team.

Pakistan will face Australia on October 20 at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, and they will be eager to give a better account of themselves after the seven-wicket mauling at the hands of India on Saturday.

This is also Pakistan’s first visit to Bengaluru since 2012. They had then beaten India by five wickets in the first T20I match of the two-match series.

Pakistan have also played just two ODIs in the Garden City – in the quarterfinals of the 1996 World Cup and in the final of the Pepsi Cup in 1999.

While the Green Brigade had lost the World Cup match, they had beaten India by 123 runs in the Pepsi Cup.

“Bengaluru is a welcoming city and we are happy to be here. The climate too seems a lot cooler here. Hopefully, there will not be rain as we have seen some reports of heavy rains in some parts of South India,” the official said.

Ticket sale to start

The Karnataka State Cricket Association on Sunday said it will start the ticket sale from Tuesday for the upcoming World Cup matches at the venue.

Tickets will be sold over the counters at Cubbon Road and Queens Road from Tuesday to Thursday.

The lowest ticket rate (H-Lower Stand) for the match between Australia and Pakistan is Rs 1000 while the high end P-Terrace price is fixed at Rs 25000.

The same rate is applicable to the tickets for the match between Pakistan and New Zealand on November 4 also.