Visa delay for World Cup forces Pakistan to cancel Dubai bonding trip

Pakistan's plans to travel to Dubai for a pre-World Cup team bonding trip have been cancelled as the team was still waiting for their visas to travel to India on Friday, according to ESPNcricinfo.

The 'Men in Green' were supposed to fly to the UAE next week and stay there for a couple of days before heading to Hyderabad for their first warm-up game against New Zealand on September 29.

But now those plans have been ruled out as the Pakistan team will head to Karachi and fly to Hyderabad next week. Pakistan will be travelling to India for the first time since 2012-13.

Pakistan will open their World Cup campaign against The Netherlands on October 6 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

On Friday, Pakistan named a 15-player squad for the World Cup with Babar Azam leading the squad.

But they will be missing the presence of their star pacer Naseem Shah who picked up niggle injury during their Super Four clash against India at the Asia Cup. He was off the field during the middle of his over and later ruled out of the competition.

Hasan Ali has been named in the squad as Naseem's replacement. Pakistan's renowned pace attack will be led by Shaheen Shah Afridi. Backing him will be Haris Rauf, Mohammed Waseem, and Hasan Ali.

Pakistan squad for the upcoming World Cup: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Fakhar Zaman, Imam-ul-Haq, Abdullah Shafique, Mohammad Rizwan, Saud Shakeel, Iftikhar Ahmed, Salman Ali Agha, Mohammad Nawaz, Usama Mir, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Wasim.