The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is doing everything possible to bring international cricket back to the country. Extraordinary security has been arranged for visiting teams to secure the confidence of international cricketers — a prime example being the way the Sri Lankan team, arriving from Abu Dhabi, was whisked away from Lahore airport in a bomb-proof bus.
If cricket-playing nations have to visit Pakistan, especially after the Sri Lankan team’s harrowing experience in 2009, such a display of tight security is vital. The attack on the Sri Lankan team has left a huge scar for every international cricketer. Pakistan will have to go all out to wipe away the fear that lives on even after eight years of the incident. The PCB must prove again and again that it is safe for international cricketers to play in Pakistan.
Be it using a bomb-proof bus for the team or sealing off the streets and deploying as many armed policemen as possible throughout the route that the Sri Lanka team will travel, Pakistan must instill the feeling of security in visiting teams.
For those who wonder whether such massive efforts must be put in place for a cricket match, it is important to understand that staging international cricket again in Pakistan is important to lift the image of that country. From the cricketing point of view, Pakistan is now one of the best teams in limited overs cricket in the world. For such a nation, being unable to stage matches in their own country is a tragedy.
The Sri Lankan cricket board would not have agreed to play there had the PCB not ventured to host the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final and the recent World XI matches. Those international cricketers who bravely travelled to play in the PSL and World XI matches deserve a salute. It is because those renowned cricketers who visited Pakistan and returned safely that PCB could confidently invite Sri Lanka.
To tour or not to tour is a personal decision; but those who ventured to help Pakistan in their battle to restore international cricket deserve to be applauded. When this Sri Lankan T20 team returns home safely, it will further allay the fear among international cricketers.
Pakistan fans love their cricket and their hunger to see their heroes in action must be satisfied. Even if a full series is not held there, like the Sri Lankans, every team should agree to play at least a few matches in the coming years.
Those who still feel that teams should not tour Pakistan must, for a moment, think of what it would be like if they were denied seeing their top players taking on the best on their home turf for years together.
