Pakistan cricket team reaches India to participate in World T20

KOLKATA: ‘Pakistan cricket team arrived in India on Saturday evening to participate in the World Twenty20 cricket tournament amid tight security arrangements.According to local media, hundreds of fans gathered to welcome the players as Pakistani team and support staff reached the Netaji ‘Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in the evening .Times of India reported that Shahid Khan Afridi reciprocated the warm gestures, waving at the crowd before leading his team-mates into two buses as they went straight to hotel.Hundreds of security personnel are said to have been deployed for the security of Pakistani team.On Friday, Pakistan’s Interior Ministry cleared the national cricket team would travel to India for the World Twenty20 after getting the full security assurances from Indian authorities following concerns about player safety.Pakistan had earlier said its men’s and women’s teams would travel to India only after New Delhi gave a public guarantee on the safety of its players.Both teams were scheduled to depart for India earlier this week, but the departure was put on hold due to the controversy over security assurances.The ICC moved Pakistan-India clash from Dharamsala to Kolkata, after the report of a three-member delegation from Pakistan that visited India to assess security arrangements in Dharamsala.’