The Indian cricketers, who were due here in the wee hours of Thursday, will now arrive on Friday morning. The Indians were to arrive directly from Toronto, Canada, but broke their journey in Mumbai.

The most intriguing part is that the PCB sources claim that they knew about the Indian itinerary but still kept it a secret. However, another source said the board were also kept in the dark by their counterparts. The Indians will thus officially cross the border on Friday for the first time in eight years to play a series of three one-day internationals for the Wills Challenge.

The opener will be played at Hyderabad on Friday, followed by games at Karachi (Sept 30) and Lahore (Oct 2). India last came here in 1989-90 under the captainship of Kris Srikkanth and played a resultless four-Test series. They also played four one-day internationals and lost two. The match at Peshawar was washed out while Karachi's game was abandoned. Sachin Tendulkar, who came here in 1989-90 as a 17-year-old lad, will be leading the team while Ajay Jadeja, Tendulkar's deputy, came to Pakistan in 1988-89 with the Indian Under-19 string. Mohammad Azharuddin is the other player who has previously toured Pakistan.