Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has expressed the desire to meet the Indian cricket team before they fly out to play Pakistan in a five one-day and three-Test series.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pramod Mahajan is in touch with captain Sourav Ganguly and the entire team is likely to fly down to Delhi on the night of March 9. They will most likely meet the prime minister the next day.

Prime minister's media advisor Ashok Tandon said Vajpayee wants to assure the team that all their security concerns have been taken care of.

Apart from wishing the team well, the prime minister would also like to ask the boys to play the "game as a game and not as a war," Tandon said.