Pakistan’s team practice session for Thursday reportedly got cancelled ahead of the highly anticipated clash against arch-rivals India on Sunday in Dubai.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is yet to elaborate as to why the practice session got cancelled.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Men in Green went down to South Africa by six wickets in a thrilling warm-up match at the Tolerance Oval in Abu Dhabi.
Opting to bat first, Pakistan set a 187-run target before South Africa even as their star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan fell cheaply after managing scores of just 15 and 19 respectively.
After their fall, Fakhar Zaman’s batting was the highlight of Pakistan’s batting as he played a 52-run knock off 28 balls while Asif Ali contributed with valuable 32 runs to help their side reach a respectable total in the allotted 20 overs.
South Africa pacer Kagiso Rabada scalped three wickets while Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje settled with one wicket each.
Later, the Pakistan jolted their opponents early as Imad Wasim packed back both the openers Quinton de Kock (6) and Reeza Hendricks (7) to reduce South Africa at 15/2 in the first three overs.
However, incoming batter Rassie van der Dussen not only denied Pakistan making any further inroads but also steadied the ship and went on to smash 101 runs off 51 balls. He was well supported by skipper Temba Bavuma, who contributed with 46 runs off 42 balls as South Africa won the contest by six wickets,
Apart from Wasim, Shaheen Shah Afridi also picked couple of wickets conceding 30 runs from his allotted four overs quota.
Earlier, Pakistan had thrashed West Indies by seven-wicket victory in their first warm-up match at the ICC Academy Cricket ground in Dubai on October 18.
Notably, the Babar Azam-led Pakistan are placed in the second Group alog with India, New Zealand, Afghanistan and two qualifers.
After opening their campaign against the Virat Kohli-led Team India, Pakistan will next face New Zealand at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah October 26.
The Green Brigade will next take on Afghanistan at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in Dubai October 29 before facing the two qualifers on November 2 and 7 in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah respectively.
The two semifinals will be held on November 10 and November 11 with the final to be played on November 14 in Dubai.