'Our grounds were turned into wedding halls' - Shahid Afridi recalls sorry state of Pakistan cricket after 2009 Sri Lankan team bus attack

Veteran all-rounder Shahid Afridi recalled arguably the most difficult phase in Pakistan cricket history when the international hosting rights were taken away from them for a long time following a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009.

Afridi went on to add that the cricket grounds were turned into wedding grounds following the incident and how much efforts have been put in by the cricketing bodies to revive the game in the country.

"Our grounds were turned into wedding halls. We wanted to play on our grounds. It was a difficult period for Pakistan cricket, we were missing our crowd. The people who have worked to make this happen, have put in a lot of effort. The board, the government. They played an important role," said Afridi while speaking on Samaa TV.

"We used to convince cricketers outside when we used to go and play in other leagues, county cricket, that through their help we'll be able to bring cricket back in our country. When cricket returned, a good message was sent from Pakistan, that we are sports loving nation and that we want to watch and play cricket on our ground here.

"That difficult period has passed. The teams started touring Pakistan. Some pulled out Australia came, England came. These were things our crowd was missing”, he added.

The Pakistan cricket team has been showcasing some extraordinary performances in multi-nation tournaments in the last 12 months. While they made the semi-finals of the last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE, they ended up as the finalists of this year’s Asia Cup and the T20 World Cup, losing to Sri Lanka and England respectively in the summit clashes.

Pakistan have been hosting international cricket without much concerns in the last few years except for New Zealand and England pulling out at the last minute due to security concerns and bio-bubble fatigue. This year, they hosted Australia in an all-format bilateral series, followed by a home ODI series against the West Indies and the new T20 world champions England in seven T20Is. England will be visiting Pakistan for three Tests starting December 1.