Security has been tightened around the National Stadium since Tuesday morning ahead of third one-day to be played between Pakistan and England where the rangers and other law enforcement agencies had a 'dress rehearsal and finalised the contingency plans.'
New traffic routes have been identified for Thursday's match between Pakistan and England where strict security measures have been taken to deal with any untoward incident.
All food items, water bottles, fruits, cold drinks, firecrackers, mobile phones and transistors have been banned whereas only the Pakistan and England flags would be allowed inside the National Stadium.
Fanfare for the match has triggered huge excitement and the people in the city have started talking about the transport arrangements made to and from the stadium, asking questions about parking areas, when to reach the stadium and other facilities.
About 40,000 people would be wail waiting for the arrival of the England team at the National Stadium, as it would be the third international match to be played here. And that too, after India played a memorable one-day match against Pakistan, in between Zimbabwe played an ODI and Sri Lanka a Test match in the city.
The match between Pakistan and India was the first after a long time and security officials were on guard and nearly all the sane people praying for the best outing for the visitors from neighbouring country. The Karachi crowd made the headlines in all the international media and proved that the city is peace loving and welcomed them with both arms.
The ground echoed with enchanting slogans for peace, friendship and long term cordial relationship. The Karachi crowd's gesture boosted the sentiments of the Indian team and they applauded whenever their batsman went for a big shot or took a wicket, hence supporting the game of cricket.
Observers are hoping that the Karachi crowd would once again display the same gesture towards the English team and send them a message of tranquility and full discipline.
Betting rates are fluctuating between hope and despair as both the teams have won one game each.
On the one hand, both teams have the players who can clinch the game out of one or another's hand. Bbut hot favourites are Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Mohammad Yousuf and Abdul Raazak while on the bowling side Shoaib Akhtar and Rana Naveed are the pick of the lot. But according to one observer after the inclusion of Shahid Afridi in the 15 member squad he is the leading the table.
On the other hand, the England team have in their ranksw, Kevin Peterison, Paul Collingwood, Vikram Solanki and Marcus Trescotick who can do wonders with the bat, while the seam attack is shared by Plunkett and Flintoff.
Whereas the department of sipn is concerned, it would be spearheaded by Danish Kaneria and Ian Blackwell.
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