Karachi gives test cricket a cold welcome

An estimated crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 witness the live action over the weekend

KARACHI: When test cricket returned to the National Stadium after a decade, the powers that be might have expected an enthusiastic welcome. Instead, the game was met with empty stands and a lacklustre response from fans. Although cricket fanatics on social media were certainly excited, their zeal did not translate to the spectators in the crowd.

An estimated crowd of 4,000 to 5,000 people turned up to witness the action at the stadium over the weekend, including a few fans who had even travelled to the metropolis from Hyderabad and Mirpurkhas. Yet even the combination of the pleasant weather,  and low entry fees, which were further waived for students in some enclosures to attract more crowds, were not enough to fill the seats in the stadium, which holds over 34,000 spectators when full.

The Sri Lankan team had agreed to tour Pakistan for a Test series for the first time since 2009, when they were attacked by terrorists in Lahore as they headed towards Gaddafi Stadium to play the second match of the series. The ill-fated incident meant that Pakistani fans were deprived of international cricket for a very, very long time.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made constant efforts over this time to convince the Sri Lankan cricket authorities to send their team for a full-fledged tour. But for the most prestigious format of the game, Karachi could not muster the same welcome it had given to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and T20 Internationals.

Traffic logjam the real test as cricket returns in Pakistan

Karachi Commissioner Iftikhar Shilwani had promised to decorate the city for test cricket's return home from the United Arab Emirates, which had become Pakistan's adopted home for the last decade. Yet the promise remained unfulfilled and the city was not beautified as it had been during the last season of the PSL. The Express Tribune tried to contact the commissioner for comment, but he was not available.

In the end, the PCB stepped forward to try to make the city feel alive, installing a handful of hoardings about the historic series on Stadium Road. Even so, fans were not convinced and the stands remained empty.

"There was no hype for the match," complained Fahad Arif, a cricket fan from Federal B Area who decided not to go watch the match at the stadium. "It felt like it was just a domestic match."

Meanwhile, Shoaib Ahmed, a resident of Lyari, was hesitant to attend because of the road closures that come with cricket matches in Karachi. "The biggest issue for me was that the designated parking space was a kilometre away. We would have had to walk to the stadium from there," he explained, adding that security plans were not so restrictive in other cities. "Here, we close off everything." Otherwise, he said, he would have definitely gone with his family and friends. "A Test match held here after such a long time and it would have been such a wonderful opportunity to see international players. But I couldn't deal with the hassle of parking and road closures, that's why I didn't go," he added.

The first Test of the two-match series was played in Rawalpindi, where the spectators came in large numbers to see their national team play. The game was later spoiled by rain, however, and ended in a draw.

In Karachi, the Pakistan cricket team managed to win the match by a convincing margin of 234 runs, courtesy of dominating performances by its batsmen and the youngster Naseem Shah in the second inning. The home team clinched the two-match series by 1-0.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2019.