Peshawar T20: Scoring for peace

Thousands of spectators rush to Arbab Niaz Stadium after a gap of seven years.

PESHAWAR:

Peshawar city met some of its favourite cricket players after seven years on Sunday when national stars played in the first major cricket match at Arbab Niaz Stadium since 2006.

Crowds thronged to the stadium to watch the Love Pakistan T20 Peace Match organised by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Sports and Culture Forum in collaboration with the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Sports and Culture Directorate.

Pakistan Peace XI led by Captain Abdul Qadir and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Peace XI led by Inzamamul Haq enthralled thousands of spectators who had arrived to see their favourites battle it out.

The last test match at Arbab Niaz Stadium was played from August 27 to 30, 2003 between Pakistan and Bangladesh, while the last One Day International match was played on February 6, 2006 between Pakistan and India.  PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS

Scorecard

K-P Peace XI skipper Inzamamul Haq won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Imran Nazir and Shazab Hassan began the match with some fantastic strokes which had the crowd on its feet. Salim Malik, a former national player, scored the highest number of runs -51 - from his side. He was followed by Shazab Hassan with 46, Muhammd Yousaf with 37, and Imran Nazir with 27 runs. The team scored a total of 180 runs with the loss of six wickets.

Pakistan Peace XI’s Shahid Afridi and Abdul Razzak took two wickets each, while Fawad Alam and Muhammad Khalil took one each.

In the second innings, Pakistan XI openers Yasir Hamid and Khalid Latif started off with a slow batting pace but Muhammad Rizwan came to the crease and hit a few boundaries.

However, the crowd’s interest peaked when the fastest century scorer in the world Shahid Afridi came face to face with the fastest bowler in the world, former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar. Afridi played a stunning innings with seven sixes and five fours.

The last test match at Arbab Niaz Stadium was played from August 27 to 30, 2003 between Pakistan and Bangladesh, while the last One Day International match was played on February 6, 2006 between Pakistan and India.  PHOTO: MUHAMMAD IQBAL/EXPRESS

From the cheers Afridi drew, it seemed the crowd had specifically come to see the fiery batting Shahid Afridi is renowned for and the cricketer did not disappoint - one of his shots broke the window of the VIP Lounge close to the pavilion.

Pakistan XI won the match with four wickets in hand. Afridi scored the winning runs with a six. He was also the highest scorer for his side with 66 runs, followed by Muhammad Rizwan with 54 and Fawad Alam with 44 runs.

Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, Information Minister Shah Farman and various MPAs attended the match while PTI chief Imran Khan was the chief guest.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Imran Khan announced the K-P government would build a sports stadium in every tehsil of every district and a talent hunt programme would also be launched in the province and the tribal areas.

Khan said players from K-P will make the national team stronger. “Many national players, including Shoaib Akhtar and Shahid Afridi, were selected during the talent hunt programmes. The provincial government will soon start such a programme for under-17 players,” Imran said.

The last test match at Arbab Niaz Stadium was played in August 2003 between Pakistan and Bangladesh, while the last One Day International match was played on February 6, 2006 between Pakistan and India.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2013.