Former cricketers thank West Indies for visiting Pakistan after first T20I

Sallu, Razzaq believe youngsters will take impetus from playing in front of home crowd

KARACHI: The West Indies team gave the fans of cricket in Pakistan another chance to enjoy international cricket as they played the first T20I of their three-match T20 series against Sarfraz Ahmed and co in the National Stadium of Karachi on Sunday.

West Indies will now be playing the second T20I on Monday and Tuesday at the same venue as Pakistan bids to welcome more international sides to the country.

“Playing at the home ground, in front of our own crowd, is what every cricketer wants. Most of the cricketers, except the debutants, have seen the home crowd of opponent teams cheering for them, but they have not experienced it first hand,” said Sallauddin Sallu while talking to The Express Tribune.

He continued: “In our times, when a lot of cricket was played in Karachi, many people came to watch match and it feels great to experience that once again after so many years. Houseful stadium and everyone cheering for you on every ball, it is a wonderful feeling that every cricketer wants to experience.”

He added that both teams will be under pressure, but in a different manner. “When you are in the ground and you hear people cheering and chanting from all sides, you feel a bit of pressure as you don’t want to disappoint your home crowd and you try to perform. So these young players will get to experience this which will help them in the future,” said Sallu.

He named veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik as the caretaker of the youngsters because the 36-year-old is the most experienced cricketer when it comes to playing in front of home crowds. Sallu said he should be the one guiding every player on “how to handle home crowd pressure”.

Wait to see filled stadium ends: Razzaq

Former star all-rounder Abdul Razzaq has said that he has been waiting for such a moment where he can see home crowd cheering for the national team.

“An international match in our country and a houseful stadium, this is what I have been missing for so long. It shows that how much we all were waiting for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan,” he said. “This will send a positive message to the world, and the way our cricket-loving nation has welcomed international cricketers and given them respect, it has motivated the foreign stars to visit Pakistan again where they received so much love from the fans.”

“Many of the stars told me that they were impressed to see the amount of knowledge the cricket followers in Pakistan have, which shows their passion and the love they have for the game,” he added.

Razzaq was also optimistic that Pakistan will whitewash West Indies, but said that if anything otherwise happens, the return of cricket to the country will still be the best thing that everyone will take away from this tour.

“Pakistan should win the series in order to stay on the top in the T20I rankings, but even if things don’t go in our favour, we still have something to cheer about and that is the revival of international cricket in the country,” he said.