KARACHI: It has been over 10 years since the people of Karachi witnessed any one-day international match in the National Stadium, after a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in 2009.
The attack forced Pakistan to play all their “home” Tests and most of its short-form games in the United Arab Emirates.
However, after repeated efforts by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and dozens of requests to the International Cricket Council (ICC), the cricket world body agreed to restore international cricket in Pakistan. Zimbabwe was the first team to return to Pakistan in 2015. That tour was followed by a Twenty20 series by a World XI in 2017, a one-off T20 match against Sri Lanka that same year, and the West Indies for a Twenty20 series in Karachi in 2018.
The national stadium of Karachi is now hosting a one-day international after 3900 days where the green shirts will take on Lankan tigers today.
“History will be made on Friday when Karachi will host the first ODI series since January 2009. I request all cricket fans to be part of history so that they can tell the next generation that they were at the National Stadium when an international series was played,” said Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed in a Tweet.
Earlier, national team’s head coach and chief selector Misbah-ul-Haq said in one of his tweets that Pakistan is a cricket loving country and the world should support it.
“Pakistan is a cricket-loving country and it would be injustice to deprive them from international cricket, so I hope that the world will support us more,” he wrote.
Teams:
Pakistan: Sarfaraz Ahmed (captain), Babar Azam (vice-captain), Abid Ali, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haris Sohail, Mohammad Hasnain, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Nawaz, Mohammad Rizwan, Shadab Khan, Usman Shinwari, Wahab Riaz.
Sri Lanka: Lahiru Thirimanne (captain), Danushka Gunathilaka, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Avishka Fernando, Oshada Fernando, Shehan Jayasuriya, Dasun Shanaka, Minod Bhanuka, Angelo Perera, Wanindu Hasaranga, Lakshan Sandakan, Nuwan Pradeep, Isuru Udana, Kasun Rajitha, Lahiru Kumara
News Pakistan
