On cricket map again
Pakistan and Zimbabwe will seek to improve their limited-over performances in the first of two Twenty20 matches held in Lahore Friday, in the first internationals on home soil for the hosts since 2009.
No Test-playing country has visited Pakistan since militants attacked the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore six years ago, killing eight people and injuring seven players.
Zimbabwe agreed to the tour, which also includes three one-day internationals, only after being promised a level of security usually reserved for heads of state, involving 6,000 policemen and paramilitary troops and helicopters buzzing overheard.
Ahead of the match, Pakistan's captain Shahid Afridi stressed it was time to rebuild the team ahead of next year's World Twenty20 in India.
"Cricket coming back to Pakistan is great news and we thank [the] Zimbabwe team for coming here," he said.
Afridi, who retired from one-day internationals following the 50-over World Cup, said he was delighted to finally play in Pakistan again.
Pakistan need to win both matches -- the second on Sunday -- to retain their fifth spot in the Twenty20 rankings. In the case of a drawn series, Pakistan will drop to seventh spot while Zimbabwe can gain three places to ninth if they win one match and seventh if they win both.
That, Zimbabwe captain Elton Chigumbura said, was an incentive.
"It's a good thing about cricket that any team playing good cricket on a given day can win, it's not about countries but it's about the eleven guys to go out and play good cricket," he said.
Comments