Zimbabwe cricket team reaches Lahore

LAHORE: The Zimbabwe cricket team arrived at Lahore airport late on Monday night.

Government officials as well as officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were present to welcome the team.

Heavy contingents of police and Rangers were seen deployed at the airport.

Also read: Pakistan announce Twenty20 squad for Zimbabwe series

Earlier today, Zimbabwe's national cricket association spokesman Lovemore Banda said the team left Harare for Pakistan.

"The team has left (Harare)," Banda told AFP. "They are going (to Pakistan) via Dubai."

It is the first tour of Pakistan by a Test-level team since seven Sri Lankan cricketers were wounded during a 2009 attack by militants in Lahore.

Zimbabwe are scheduled to play two Twenty20 and three one-day internationals amid massive security at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Views on the tour are mixed with Sri Lanka-born Zimbabwe coach Dav Whatmore upbeat.

"I appreciate the significance of this tour to Pakistan and I am happy to go," he told Zimbabwe radio. (AFP)