Sarfraz eager to shift focus back to cricket

He stood as umpire in as many as 41 T20 worldwide games overseas but not in one match on the Pakistani soil. But now we should expect more teams to come to a country that has produced some of the greatest players in cricket history.

The director also thanked the coach of World XI team, Andy Flower, who worked diligently to make sure this event was possible in Pakistan. He has one wicket in his last five T20s for Pakistan, in a format where they do have options beyond him, and though he would have been close, he may not actually have been an automatic pick in the XI for the first game. “It has been a long and tough journey as the PCB, Pakistan players and fans have been starved of the opportunity to stage, play and watch global cricket in their own country”, Manohar said.

The BBC reported that Sri Lanka will also play a match in Lahore on October 29.

Roads and shops will be closed around the 27,000-capacity venue, while spectators will have to pass through multiple security checkpoints.

To a query regarding any security issue the visitors have faced, Imran said: “There is absolutely no problem here”.

A whole generation of Pakistani cricketers have missed out on the opportunity, something that the rest of the world’s cricketers take for granted.

When asked about the participation of Indian players in the series, Sarfraz said: “It would have been great if they were here, but we are thankful to those who have come”. Both the teams are now fully focused on the T20Is scheduled for September 12, 13 and 15 and have started their preparations for the same.

Top officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board, including its chairman Najam Sethi, welcomed the players at the airport.

“This courageous nation had to suffer absence of worldwide cricket for a very long time”.

Pakistan vs World XI 1st T20 will be broadcast live on DSports from 07:30 PM IST. Of course, the 1998 Test in Peshawar stands out for me because we won it and that helped us win our maiden Test series. Pakistan later hosted Zimbabwe in October 2015.

To a question he said it is the Cricket South Africa to give permission to its team to Pakistan in future and as South African captain he will play his role to convince the South African cricket authorities to send their team to Pakistan.

West Indies leg-spinner Samuel Badree was due to join the squad later on Monday, after playing in the Caribbean Premier League final.