Eight Sri Lankan players, currently touring Pakistan with the national team for a three-match ODI series, are set to return home on Thursday after expressing concern over their safety following a deadly bomb blast in Islamabad that left 12 people dead and several injured, an SLC source said on Wednesday.

The development means the second ODI scheduled in Rawalpindi on Thursday will not happen. Pakistan had won the first ODI by six runs at the same venue on Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan team is also scheduled to play a triangular series, involving the hosts and Zimbabwe, after the three ODIs.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) sources said replacements will be sent for those returning home.

Sources in SLC added that the proximity of Rawalpindi, where the ODIs are being played, to Islamabad was the reason

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