Pakistan team staying at Cuttack cricket stadium for security reasons during Women’s World Cup

BC-CRI-Women’s-WCup-Pakistan, 1st Writethru

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW DELHI — Pakistan will board in the cricket stadium at Cuttack during the Women’s World Cup for security reasons.

The Barabati Stadium clubhouse was chosen by the International Cricket Council for the team’s living quarters after India’s Shiv Sena right-wing party threatened to disrupt Pakistan’s games in protest against recent skirmishes along the line of control between the two countries.

“The ICC considered all options and the best security for the teams,” the ICC said in a statement on T.

Cuttack was added as a venue only this month to accommodate Pakistan, and remove it from Mumbai, where the entire tournament was to have been staged.

The Women’s World Cup starts on Thursday.

Pakistan’s move also forced organizers to shift fellow Group B teams Australia, New Zealand and South Africa to Cuttack, as well as some Super Six and playoff games. However, the final will be in Mumbai on Feb. 17.

Cricket relations between the two countries were revived last month when the Pakistan men’s team travelled to India for a short tour of limited-overs games.

That was the first bilateral series between the neighbours in five years, as relations turned sour after a terror attack on Mumbai in 2008 in which 166 people were killed, and which India blamed Pakistan.

06:18ET 29-01-13