LAHORE: The cricket teams of Pakistan and Sri Lanka arrived here in the wee hours of Sunday morning amid tight security, set to play the third and final match of the Twenty20 International (T20I) series later today in a historical moment for the nation.

Led by all-rounder Thisara Perera after Upal Tharanga pulled out of the fixture, the Sri Lankan team departed Abu Dhabi at 10 PM and landed here in the city at 2:25 AM.

Pakistan squad, on the other hand, left Dubai via a different flight tonight and reached Lahore at 1:50 AM.

The Green Shirts are already leading the T20I series with 2-0 after having emerged victorious against Sri Lanka by seven wickets in the opening game and winning a last-ball thriller in the second one.

Sunday?s game, however, will mark the homecoming of top-level international cricket as Sri Lanka becomes the first major cricket team to visit Pakistan since they were targeted in a deadly ambush in 2009 ? with attack survivors among those returning to the scene.

Tens of thousands of security personnel have been deployed in Lahore to guard routes to the stadium, while air surveillance and intelligence monitoring are also in place as Pakistan rolls out head-of-state-level measures.

?Additional reporting by Jaffar Hussain from Abu Dhabi