Independence Cup

Pakistan took another step towards the revival of international cricket in the country when it hosted a galaxy of international stars in a three-match Twenty20 series – the Independence Cup 2017 – in Lahore last week. The host country won the series 2-1 after three enthralling encounters played inside four days but the outcome of the contest was hardly the talking point during the brief visit of the World XI. The series was important because it brought back leading foreign stars to Pakistani soil for the first time after 2009 when Sri Lanka’s cricket team was ambushed by terrorists in Lahore. For more than eight years international teams, excluding Zimbabwe, refused to visit Pakistan because of security fears. The script has changed, finally. To say that it was encouraging to see the likes of international stars Hashim Amla, Faf Du Plessis and several others being cheered by a packed crowd at the Gaddafi stadium would be an understatement. Till a few months back it seemed next to impossible for matches of such magnitude to take place in Pakistan. That is why everyone involved in the smooth holding of the Independence Cup deserves to be praised and recognised. It was certainly a big task, what with having to provide presidential-level security to the visiting players and officials.

Such is the state of Pakistan cricket that instead of sitting back and celebrating the successful hosting of the World XI, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will have to find ways and means to reach a bigger, more important target: the staging of a full home series on Pakistani soil against a major Test-playing nation. Unlike the matches against the World XI, a bilateral series is going to be a gigantic task considering that it will span over several weeks and matches will be played in various cities. But it is a goal that is important enough for us to do whatever it takes to get there. Cricket is perhaps the biggest binding force for our people; it unites Pakistan in a way that nothing else does. We saw a glimpse of it in Lahore where cricket-loving Pakistanis embraced the visiting stars, cheering every run they scored and every wicket they took. That is why full-time international cricket will have to return to this country. It won’t be an overnight miracle as International Cricket Council’s Chief Executive David Richardson stressed recently, but it has to happen – sooner rather than later.