The morning of March 3, 2009 was not good for Pakistan. A
few years ago, Imran Khan said, terrorists don’t attack sportsmen and thus suggested
the world not to boycott Pakistan from playing international cricket. But
Pakistan's world went upside down when a bunch of bloodthirsty terrorists
attacked Sri Lankan cricket team’s bus and triggered an absolute shock wave
throughout the sports community around the world.
In no time, the international teams decided to boycott
Pakistan tour and after a while, they lost the privilege of hosting the ICC
World Cup 2011.
But Pakistan did not stop and kept on playing cricket away
from home. Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Saeed Ajmal, Yasir Shah
and others continued to make Pakistan proud but the ‘maaza’ of playing in front
of the home crowd amid a carnival atmosphere was never there. The Stadiums at Middle
East never offered the festive mood of Lahore and Karachi.
The noise, the music, the bhaangra, the romance and the warm
relationship with the fans remained absent for eight years. The international
community never listened to Pakistan’s plea. Zimbabwe broke the deadlock two
years ago but still it was not satisfactory enough to demand attention of the
big bosses of world cricket. Even the final of a circus show was not enough.
But one thing for sure, such tiny efforts could not be
ignored but in the long run can be regarded as effective. Those efforts led to
the arrangement of an event like “Cricket ki Halalala”. A world eleven team
comprising of superstars of international arena has decided to tour Pakistan
and play a three-match Twenty20 series.
Faf du Plessis, the captain of World XI, and his men sound
positive. They want international cricket to return to Pakistan and are
confident, their effort will act as a catalyst to make the world believe,
Pakistan is safe to play cricket.
Thank You
Faisal Caesar
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