LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief operating officer (COO) Subhan Ahmad says team Kenya’s tour is a consequence of the board’s sedulous and sustained endeavour to revive international cricket in Pakistan.
“The tour has not only showcased to the world our resolve to host international cricket on our soil but also the capability to ensure a safe and friendly environment for the visiting teams,” said the PCB COO.
Subhan said: “The successful completion of the tour, the first by a non-Asian country since March 2009, has been watched with keen interest by other national boards. The PCB shall continue to invite other boards and we are confident that other teams would follow suit.
The real success though would be hosting a top-of-the-line nation, which, Subhan said, may materialise soon – if not in 2015 than surely by 2016, yet he said that he would be gunning for it in the coming year.
Though he was not forthcoming with the teams that may visit us in 2015, perhaps for the reason that the board does not want to prematurely divulge and as a consequence derail ongoing negotiations, but it is understood that the Netherlands, Ireland and Scotland may be the ones coming over in the first half of 2015.
Quite a few diplomats were seen visiting the Gaddafi Stadium during the five-match one-days, the Netherlands envoy to Islamabad and Australia’s first secretary were among them.
“We provided foolproof security to the visiting Kenyans; they were extremely satisfied over not just the security arrangements but the comfort level and leisure activities arranged for them – to the extent that they sounded keen to visit us again.
“The board is indeed indebted to the administration in the Punjab province as well as the security apparatus for affording us the best possible security,” said Subhan.
To the question, whether the security was a bit too stifling for comfort, the PCB COO said: “This needs to be put in the context that in the aftermath of 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan team, and other perception-forming incidents since then, there has been a lot of apprehension on security in Pakistan. While it is understandable, those fears needed to be allayed, and I am sure that the images and news going out of Lahore and Gaddafi Stadium would be reassuring to the people that we need to convince to once again consider Pakistan a safe destination for cricket.”
“We are also sharing the footage in the shape of a documentary of the Kenyans’ sojourn here to the International Cricket Council (ICC) and other boards. This would reflect on security but also shall display the passion of the Pakistanis for the game and their keenness to see cricket live in their own stadia. To me personally, the sights and sounds of the people in the stands were the highlight of the tour. These people had braved biting chill, walked a considerable distance and went through multiple security checks only to see a game of cricket. There are but very few places in the cricketing world where you would see such enormous groundswell of support and allegiance to the game.
“Coming back to the question of security, as we go along and the overall situation improves further, it would be, I’m sure, far less stifling compared to what was witnessed during Kenya’s visit.”
The dawn of the year 2015 would bring more cheer for Pakistan, the upbeat and optimistic PCB COO hoped.
“We have set ourselves three targets for 2015. The first and foremost is for team Pakistan to match its triumphant performance Down Under in the ICC World Cup 2015. The second is to organise our Pakistan-India home series in a befitting manner and thirdly, to host a big league outfit in this country,” Subhan concluded.