“It’s a huge honour to be here as it’s not often that you are playing cricket in a cause which is much bigger than the game,” said Faf Du Plessis, the captain of the World XI side that will play the third and final T20 against Pakistan tonight, in his first interview after landing in Lahore on Monday.
That is what the ongoing Independence Cup is all about.
“As a cricketer, in a few years’ time, I will be able to look back and say that I played my part in bringing cricket back to Pakistan,” Du Plessis added.
That, right there, is the kind of emotion no amount of money can buy, and is a reminder for anyone who believes that the hefty pay cheques being given to the World XI stars are the sole motivation behind the tour.
Whatever the final scoreline might be today, it is largely irrelevant. The only thing that matters is that Pakistan witnessed some of the topmost international athletes, who held our hand and helped take that crucial step towards the full return of international cricket to the country.
Fakhar Zaman and Morne Morkel
That everyone got to see Hashim Amla’s effortless stroke play, Ben Cutting and MorneMorkel’s threatening pace, Imran Tahir’s guile, Faf Du Plessis’ commanding leadership or the likes of Grant Elliot and Darren Sammy – who had become the darlings of the Lahore crowd even before the series – is but a world-beating icing on the cake.
This doesn’t of course reduce the series to a trio of exhibition games. Just like World XI series in the past – most recently the Afro-Asia Cup – the matches count as T20 internationals.
But for most of the Pakistani stars it was their first experience of facing world-class athletes at home. More than the freshest of the lot like Fakhar Zaman, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, RumanRaees or Faheem Ashraf – who will hopefully be playing international stars with increasing frequency at home now, it is the more experienced bunch who must be cherishing this the most.
Other than Shoaib Malik, none of the other members of the Pakistani squad has played cricket in the country for any sustained time. Sarfraz Ahmed might have played at home a decade ago, but almost all of his career has been spent in exile. Or even Imad Wasim, who might have made his T20I debut when Zimbabwe toured Pakistan in 2015, but even as a relatively senior member of the limited-overs squads he has played all of his cricket overseas.
But it is the Sarfraz generation – the likes of Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq, Ahmed Shehzad, Wahab Riaz and even Mohammed Amir – who might be craving international cricket in the longer formats the most. This transitional generation, that for large parts was led by captain-in-exile Misbah-ul-Haq, who helped build a fortress in the Emirates, would now be collectively hoping that Pakistan cricket never has to take refuge in that desert citadel again.
Sarfraz Ahmed
Babar Azam
Du Plessis' expression of what the series truly is about is the kind of emotion no amount of money can buy
Even so, more than perhaps the cricketers themselves, it is the local aficionados of the sport that have felt most of the pain that Pakistan cricket has suffered over the past nine years. They’ve seen the lows and the highest of highs of their national side glued in front of TV sets or devices without ever getting the chance to see their heroes in action, or thank them in person by chanting their names and applauding every possible action of theirs.
Now with the fans in Lahore getting a taste of it, Karachi would very soon follow suit. And from there the rest of the country…
So let’s sit back and enjoy the final game of the series tonight. Just like Faf Du Plessis, many of us would look back to this week as the moment international cricket finally gate-crashed its way into this cricket-crazy country.
