Afghan president invites Peshawar Zalmi to visit Kabul

ISLAMABAD: Peshawar Zalmi’s players, the team who won the Pakistan Super League 2017, will visit Kabul at the invitation of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, owner of the team Javed Afridi said on Wednesday.

Peshawar Zalmi lifted the Pakistan Super League trophy by virtue of its 58-run victory over the Quetta Gladiators on Sunday night.



Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Hekmat Karzai spoke to Javed Afridi, congratulated him on the victory and on behalf of the president, invited the team to visit Afghanistan. Karzai called Zalmi ‘Khpal’ (own) team.

“We have accepted the invitation and the visit is expected in May,” Afridi told The Express Tribune. Javed Afridi said foreign players of the team will also travel to Afghanistan.

Zalmi’s win was also celebrated on the Afghan side of the border and many Afghans posted congratulations on social media.

Afghan ambassador to Pakistan Omar Zakhilwal also congratulated the team.

 

Earlier this week, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Pervaiz Khattak announced a reward of Rs20 million for Peshawar Zalmi for thrashing Quetta Gladiators in the final.

A number of tweets, posted on the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf’s (PTI) Twitter page said that the provincial minister, who was already supporting the team representing the K-P capital in the T20 league, congratulated Peshawar Zalmi’s owner Javed Afridi on the phone for being able to bring the PSL trophy to the province. Moreover, the K-P Chief Minister also invited the management and players of Peshawar Zalmi to a grand reception in Peshawar and lauded the players’ performance as a team.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2017.