Pakistan riding on a wave of emotion

Perhaps the national anthem of Pakistan had never sounded sweeter, perhaps even the sight of President Mamnoon Hussain had never been met with a louder cheer, perhaps never before has the passion of the Pakistan fan embodied a stadium so completely for four long hours.

Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium, after the tireless efforts of the oft-maligned Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), crafted arguably the most celebrated night of sporting fanfare in the turbulent land.

After the doors of international cricket were firmly shut in the face of probably the most impassioned lot of fans of the limited overs varieties, the Pakistan team rarely got to hear the deafening stream of noise that was bursting through the seams of Gaddafi on Friday.

Other than the 16,000-seater cauldron of Sharjah, the support for Pakistan team never came close to the 27,000 mark — the crowd attendance for the first T20 — since international cricket was aborted by the callous act of a handful of deranged individuals six years ago.

Since the 3/3 isolation of Pakistan cricket, one luckily got the opportunity to witness some spell binding performances of the men in green in Colombo, Pallekele, Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Napier and Auckland. On each memorable moment, the Pakistanis lauded their team’s heroics wholeheartedly, feeling duty-bound to replace the fervour of their home fans, trying incredibly hard to make up for the lost numbers.

But on Friday, the response to every boundary or a cart wheeling stump was simply many decibels higher than any such occasion anywhere in the world.

No one cared a tad bit about the perceived mediocrity of the opposition, the occasion simply got to the thousands crammed in at the headquarters of Pakistan cricket and simply put, it was the most captivating of sights after six years of deadly gloom.

Now Pakistan must build from here. There are four more games to go and a full house or at least 70% attendance is ensured in each of these games. The people of Lahore have to maintain the spirit that was showcased in the series opener and the tour is an acid test for ensuring more tours in the coming years.

After Lahore, the PCB must aim to spread future tours to major centres like Karachi, Rawalpindi and Peshawar.

The Karachi crowds of the 90s and the noughties were easily the most vociferous in the country; perhaps even the cricket world.

The 2004 Indo-Pak ODI, run glut epic is widely regarded as the loudest crowd present at a cricket match in Pakistan. The 34,000 screaming Karachiites including a smattering or Indian tourists witnessed an incredible humdinger and almost brought the roof down of the largest stadium in the country through a coherent bashing of plastic on plastic — bottles on chairs — the indigenous NSK sound.

For now Pakistan must sustain momentum, must keep on building more and rebuild the trust of the cricketing fraternity, and hopefully in the coming decade the passion would steamroll every obstacle in the way, the fans of this country deserve an ICC world event, even the most ghastly of terrorists can’t deny them that for long.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2015.

Like Sports on Facebook, follow @ETribuneSports on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.