Pakistan Cup: Braving the heat, fans come in numbers to show support

Highest attendance recorded in final between K-P, Punjab as domestic cup concludes.

FAISALABAD: Contrasting emotions were witnessed on the final day of the Pakistan Cup as the inaugural one-day domestic tournament concluded at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad yesterday.

While many of the fans were ecstatic during the 13-day tournament, some opined that the heat made spectating unbearable and that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should have done more to provide shades.



However, despite the Faisalabad heat, which is at its peak at this time of the year, taking some of the shine off the five-team tournament, fans were nonetheless delighted to watch their favourite stars in action.

“I came to watch all of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s matches and did not even miss a single ball of their innings,” said 24-year-old Hasan Akhtar, who is a die-hard fan of Pakistan opener Ahmad Shahzad. “I arrive 30 minutes before the start of the match to watch the team practice. The only thing that bothered me was the heat, nothing else. It was too hot. Fans would have preferred to watch the matches which started in the evening.”



While nothing could be done to lower the temperature in the Manchester of Pakistan, many of the supporters wanted better treatment from the organisers, who simply weren’t ready to cope with the massive influx of supporters for the final.

In a packed 25,000 capacity stadium, police officers used force to handle the crowd and were even involved in selling tickets illegally.

“We bought our tickets in black by the police officer outside the main gate as it was not available anywhere else. But when we came in the same police officers did not let us in and started beating us,” revealed Atif Akbar, a supporter of Shoaib Malik’s Punjab.

Despite braving the heat and being manhandled by police officers at the venue, the fans were extremely appreciative of the PCB’s initiative to conduct more domestic events in the country.

“We are able to watch cricket; what more can a person ask for?” said Hasan Iqbal, a K-P supporter. “Since years we have been unable to watch our stars in action but with the Pakistan Cup, the PCB has done a wonderful job. It’s great to see superstars playing in our city. We would love for the PCB to organise more events like this.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 2^nd, 2016.

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