Karachi is ready to organize an international cricket match after 9 years. The National Stadium, Karachi, will host all of three games in the three-match T20I bilateral series between Pakistan and Windies, starting from this Sunday.
The T20I matches will be played on April 1, 2, and 3. Since February 2009, Karachi has never hosted an international cricket match before this Sunday.
After the terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in 2009, Pakistan’s home cricket has hugely suffered. While their home venue shifted in UAE, Pakistan had zero international matches until 2015. In May 2015, Zimbabwe had the successful tour in Pakistan where they had played 3 ODIs and 2 T20Is.
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In the last year, Pakistan organised total four more international matches (three T20Is against World XI and one T20I against Sri Lanka). Since 2009, all of those international matches had been organised at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore.
In February 2009, National Stadium (Karachi) had organised the last international cricket match and it was a Test match between Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
Recently, National Stadium organised the PSL 2018 final successfully where Islamabad United won the crown for the second time after beating the defending champion Peshawar Zalmi. Now, the stadium is going to organise the first ever international cricket match since 2009.
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The Sunday T20I will be the second T20I at the National Stadium. The first ever T20I in this venue was played between Pakistan and Bangladesh on April 20, 2008, where Pakistan had secured a victory by 102 runs.
Among the 13-member Windies squad, 11 cricketers have arrived in Karachi on Saturday. Others will come on tomorrow. Najam Sethi, the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board, has confirmed the news through his official Twitter account.
First group of 11 West Indies players have arrived in Karachi. Others coming tomorrow.
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) March 31, 2018
The National Stadium will be guarded by almost 6,000 security personnel. Also, armed guards will travel with the Windies team during their move from hotel to the stadium.
Talking about the tour, Cricket West Indies (CWI) CEO Jonny Grave said, “Following the successful hosting of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) Final in Karachi on the weekend, our squad are now en route to Pakistan for our three-match T20I series.
“This Tour is a further major step for our friends at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to bring their cricket back home, and we are pleased that our players and support staff have recognised this and supported this venture.”
Since December 2006, it is the first international cricket tour for Windies cricket team.
Pakistan head coach Mickey Arthur said about the short T20I series on the Pakistan soil, “For the young guys, there is nothing like playing at home. I know that they have been very excited about the opportunity and I just can’t wait to see the stadium full of green flags.”
Pakistan squad: Sarfraz Ahmed (Captain), Ahmed Shehzad, Fakhar Zaman, Babar Azam, Shoaib Malik, Asif Ali, Hussain Talat, Faheem Ashraf, Muhammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Mohammad Amir, Hasan Ali, Rahat Ali, Usman Khan Shinwari, Shaheen Shah Afridi
Windies Squad: Jason Mohammed (Captain), Samuel Badree, Rayad Emrit, Andre Fletcher, Andre McCarthy, Keemo Paul, Veerasammy Permaul, Rovman Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Marlon Samuels, Odean Smith, Chadwick Walton, Kesrick Williams
