The Indian cricket team, which has been showered with great deal of affection ever since it arrived in Pakistan, would enjoy the hospitality of President Pervez Musharraf when they attend a get-together over tea with him on Wednesday.
Complete coverage: India's tour of Pakistan
Musharraf, an avid cricket fan and patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board, would be hosting the team on March 17 here, team manager Ratnakar Shetty told PTI on Sunday. "The timing is yet to be confirmed," he said.
Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon would be hosting a dinner for the team on the same day.
Both the Indian and Pakistani teams arrived in Islamabad from Karachi on Saturday in the same flight. The second one-dayer is scheduled for Tuesday in Rawalpindi.
Yesterday, Musharraf had congratulated the Indian team during his satellite address to the India Today conclave in New Delhi after the visitors won the first one-day international by five runs in Karachi.
As soon as the team returned to the pavilion, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee spoke to captain Sourav Ganguly. Union Minister Arun Jaitley, Priyanka Gandhi, her husband Robert Vadra and brother Rahul Gandhi, who had flown to Karachi to watch the match, later mobbed the players.
"It was a great occasion. The atmosphere was unbelievable," Shetty said.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and several other political leaders spoke to the team members and the players appeared pumped up after the reception they got, he added.
The Pakistan team too was gracious in its defeat and captain Inzamam-ul Haq and coach Javed Miandad warmly congratulated the Indian team.
There was also great deal of camaraderie being developed between Indian and Pakistani players who were enjoying each other's company, according to Shetty.
"The two teams travelled together from Karachi to Islamabad in the same flight and several of the Pakistan players, especially the seniors, came up and chatted with the Indian players enroute," he said.
On the security issue, Shetty said Pakistan officials had gone to great lengths to arrange the security for the Indian tour.
"The Indian team was being given a memorable reception as well as stringent security," he said.
The team manager said they were happy that the match at Karachi went off without any incident yesterday. "It augured well for Karachi," he said, as Pakistan's biggest city has not hosted a major match for over three years due to security fears.
"We hope after yesterday's match, cricket will return to Karachi and have its normal quota of international matches," he said.
