Pakistan team has brief work-out

Karachi, Feb 11: The Pakistan cricket team, minus allrounder Abdur Razzaq, assembled here on Friday evening and had a brief training session at the National Stadium.

The touring Sri Lankan cricketers had a gruelling morning session. Both the teams are here for the first one-day international to be played on Sunday.

Pakistan team's practice was delayed by two hours when the flight from Lahore arrived two hours late because of foggy conditions. Razzaq, who was also coming from Lahore, didn't accompany the team. Team officials were unaware of Razzaq's whereabouts.

The players who were in Karachi, trained early afternoon and then joined the rest of the players later in the afternoon.

The Pakistan team received a rude welcome by the crowd when they came for training. Approximately 500 spectators taunted the cricketers for their failure in Australia.

There was also total confusion around the practice area when more than 500 cricket enthusiasts thronged the playing field.

The ground was cleared after police was called by the local administration. The crowd left the ground peacefully.

Pakistan skipper Saeed Anwar was diplomatic when his attention was drawn towards the attitude of the spectators.

"I can understand their annoyance. We have let them down in Australia but we tried our best. But now the team wants their (crowd) support. The spectators will have to realize that their words upset the players specially when we have more youngsters than seniors," he said at the National Stadium.

While the Pakistan team could only had nets and that too in different groups, Sri Lankans underwent another strenuous session. The most impressive part of their training program was the discipline, unity and the support every player gave to his fellow team-mate.

The enthusiasm the Sri Lankan players showed in the training session illustrates why they are one of the best fielding teams in the world.

Not only the players were enjoying the training, their coach Dav Whatmore was inspiring them by running and throwing himself around.