Warm welcome: Afridi praises Zimbabwe ‘courage’

ODI captain Azhar Ali, who debuted in 2010 and has never played at home, added it was a dream come true for players

LAHORE: Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi on Tuesday led his country in welcoming the Zimbabwe team and praised the visitors’ “courage”.

“It’s like the spring of cricket after six years of autumn,” said Afridi. “The courage of the Zimbabwe team must be praised and they delighted our fans who have been waiting for international cricket for quite some time now.”

ODI captain Azhar Ali, who made his debut in 2010 and has never played at home, added it was a dream come true for players like himself. “It will be a special day for player like me who have not played before their home crowds and don’t know the taste of playing on our grounds,” said Azhar. “I pray that this tour goes without any problem so that more and more teams come and play on our grounds.”

Besides Azhar, six other team members — Umar Akmal, Junaid Khan, Rahat Ali, Muhammad Irfan, Asad Shafiq and Ahmed Shehzad — have not played in home conditions.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2015.

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