Karachi Mayor demands at least one T20 of the Sri Lanka series in the city

The Sri Lankans are set to tour Pakistan for a T20 series which will give a full stop to the international draught cricket that is being faced by Pakistan. The tour will be a delight for the Pakistani fans as Sri Lanka will be the second team to tour the country after the horrific terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in the year of 2009 at Lahore. Zimbabwe became the first team to tour the country after the attack when they engaged themselves in an ODI and t20 series in Pakistan.

Even the tour of Zimbabwe was not completely clean as a blast took place during one of ODIs near the stadium. However, Sri Lanka will dare to travel again to Pakistan to involve themselves in a T20 series. Karachi Mayor Wasim Akhtar has termed the series as a positive sign and has demanded at least one of T20s to be held in Karachi.

Akhtar believes that this will bring an end to the unfortunate scenario in Pakistan cricket of not getting home matches. He also says that on such a wonderful occasion the largest city in the country, Karachi, deserves a game.

What Wasim Akhtar said:

“This is a welcome sign that the drought of international cricket in Pakistan is finally ending. Thus, it is high time that the country’s largest city deserves to get at least one match in the upcoming series,” said the mayor.

Karachi’s National stadium hosted its last ODI in January 2009 and its last Test in February 2009 after which the Sri Lankan players were attacked by terrorists near the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, giving goosebumps to the whole cricketing world. The mayor also assured the Sri Lankan team a ‘foolproof’ security system which will keep them absolutely safe during the series. He will engage police and Pakistan’s paramilitary force, Ranger, into the safety measures if the city is awarded a T20I.

“Once we host our Sri Lankan brothers, it will surely encourage other international teams to visit us in future.” he said.

“Our sportsmanship has been praised by the rest of the world, and it is an open secret that international players felt proud to play in Karachi.” he added.