This is not cricket

Lahoris are facing immense inconvenience in the wake of the Pakistan-Sri Lanka T-20 matches. It is just absurd that a major part of the city is totally shut down. Schools get half day off. This is not the entertainment we asked for. What message are we sending here? We don’t want cricket returned like this. This is not normal. A game where we can’t even win from a B grade team. A city where one half is closed because of Kashmir solidarity marches and the other part is closed due to a cricket match.

We Lahoris didn’t ask for this. If the local government can’t find an alternative way to hold these matches, I recommend them to move the cricket venue outside Lahore or use helicopters to transport the players to the venue. Or better yet stop having cricket matches here till we can hold them safely and without any inconvenience. Three T-20 matches and the whole city is shut down for six days. Our priorities need to be sorted out. There are more important things to be taken care of in the city than holding these matches. Soon people will be so disgruntled that they’ll stop coming to these ventures all together. Don’t make us so miserable that we end up boycotting this beloved game.

Mehreen Hasan

Lahore