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Australian cricketers are on edge just a month ahead of their first visit to Pakistan in 24 years amid a rise in terror attacks in the Asian country, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on Wednesday.
“There’s nothing we can do about it,” a source close to the team told the paper, using an informal Australian term for anxiety or concern.
Australia plans to play three Test matches, three one-day internationals and a Twenty20 match in Pakistan from March 3.
Elector George Bailey told reporters on Wednesday that the security arrangements would be “very, very robust and very, very thorough”.
“I’m sure the board is still working on the little details of the tour, so we’ll announce the squad release once it’s officially approved, but we’re pretty good already,” he added.
After 24 years, Australia will tour Pakistan with its full lineup
Australia has not visited Pakistan since 1998 due to security concerns, instead playing away matches in the United Arab Emirates.
While some international tour teams have returned to Pakistan in recent years, New Zealand abruptly stopped touring there in September, citing safety concerns, and England canceled its scheduled tour shortly after.
The rise in attacks since the Taliban regained control of neighboring Afghanistan in August has also done little to boost confidence.
According to local media reports, Pakistani Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid said terrorist incidents have increased by more than a third since the US withdrew from Afghanistan.
A bomb exploded in a crowded market in eastern Pakistan on Thursday, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen.
A newly formed separatist group in southwestern Balochistan claimed responsibility for the attack in a text message to Reuters reporters.
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