Cricket comes home

This evening Lahore plays host to an event that many feared might not happen any time soon. At the iconic Qaddafi Stadium, Pakistan will host Zimbabwe – the first Test-playing nation to visit our violence-torn country – in an eagerly-awaited Twenty20 International in front of a packed crowd. The match has far more significance than an ordinary international cricket game. It is expected to mark the beginning of the end of Pakistan’s pariah status as an international sporting host. Friday’s game will be followed by another T20 encounter and later by a three-match One-day International series. The series is already the centre of intense media attention and will also serve as a test for both our cricket and government authorities. It will provide many of our cricketers including Umar Akmal – a veteran of 111 ODI games – the very first opportunity to play on home soil. Of the current T20 squad, only skipper Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Sarfraz Ahmed, Wahab Riaz and Mohammad Sami have played internationals in Pakistan.
The series itself is a cricketing equivalent of a test-tube baby as it will be held in a fully-controlled environment with all matches being played at a single venue and under the watchful eye of thousands of security personnel. More than cricket is at stake. By hosting this brief series Pakistan wants to send out a positive signal to the cricketing world. Whether it will succeed in doing that remains to be seen considering that photographs and footage of the Zimbabweans travelling in the middle of dozens of security vehicles hardly sends out a reassuring message. But there is little our authorities can do about this image. On March 3, 2009, a convoy carrying Sri Lankan cricketers was attacked by heavily armed gunmen on a major Lahore thoroughfare and that too in broad daylight. Eight people, mostly cops, were killed and several others including Sri Lankan players were injured. The scars of that attack still remain but positive episodes like this historic home series against Zimbabwe will go a long way in healing them. We must, as a nation of cricket fans, hail the Zimbabweans for their brave decision to visit a country seen by most foreigners as a no-go zone. And we must make sure that they are treated to our legendary hospitality and leave with cherished memories – and in safety.