Islamabad: The year 2017 proved to be a blessed one for Pakistan cricket as the country hosted successful events and have won some big tournaments that have also put them under the spotlight.

It all started from the month of PSL season 2 when all the talk was about staging the final of the league in Lahore. Everyone thought this would not be possible since the security in the country did not satisfy the foreigners, which led to many international players that were playing with their team throughout the league disagree to travel with their team and take part in the Final as they considered it to be unsafe.

However, some players like Darren Sammy, David Malan, Marlon Samuels were ready to arrive in Pakistan and the PCB invited other foreign players that were not a part of the league to play the final to make it even better and exciting. The PSL final was a huge success and all the foreign players were delighted with the security and all the arrangements.

A month after the Pakistan Super League, came the Pakistan tour to West Indies series, which consisted of four T20s, 3 ODIs and 3 Tests.

The visitors had dominated in the entire tour — first defeating the hosts in the T20Is comprehensively and then whitewashing them in One Day Internationals. The last part of this tour was the most interesting one, it was the two Pakistan legends — Younis Khan and Misbah-ul-Haq’s — last Test series in their glorious career.

It had to be a memorable last series, and what better way to finish one’s Test career than beating the West Indians and clinching a Test series win for the very first time at their home soil. The young lads in the team gave a well-deserved send-off to the two greats of Pakistan cricket and this Test series win will undoubtedly be one of the most memorable victory for Pakistan over the years.

A month later, came a tournament in which Pakistan had to step into as underdogs: the ICC Champions Trophy 2017.

The tournament in which an eighth ranked team faced all the odds and conquered the best of the best. The green shirts did justice to their tag of being the most unpredictable team. They lost the first match against arch-rivals India badly but then bounced back on the road of victory, defeating top teams like South Africa and Sri Lanka in the group stages and then going on to beat England, the best side in the event, in the semi-finals.

In the all-important final against India, many thought the young team of Sarfraz Ahmad will not be able to handle the pressure of the big final. However, they surprised all by demolishing India and winning the match by a huge margin of 180 runs.

All these events hold a very a special place in the heart of Pakistan cricket followers as more is expected from them in 2018.