KARACHI: The national cricket board has said that it would try its best to bring England, which is scheduled to tour Pakistan in September and October this year, to Multan for the test and T20 series.
“Hopefully, we will also try to host Pakistan Super League matches here,” Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Ramiz Raja said at the presentation ceremony in Multan after the hosts made a clean sweep in ODIs over tourists, West Indies.
All-rounder Shadab Khan, who bats at number seven, hit a fighting half-century before taking four wickets to anchor Pakistan’s 53-run win over the West Indies in the third and final day-night international in Multan. Shadab had come at the crease when the green shirts were 117/5, with wicketkeeper batter Mohammad Rizwan getting caught behind on Nicholas Pooran’s delivery.
Raja thanked Multan and fans for turning up in large numbers in the series amid such hot weather. “You have proved that you should get more cricket,” he said and praised all the stakeholders in organising the series as it was shifted to the city of saints from Rawalpindi at the last moment due to political uncertainty.
The PCB chief also thanked both the teams for playing in the hot weather in Multan, where the temperature reaches over 44 degrees centigrades in summer. There were multiple drink breaks during the matches to keep the players hydrated.
He advised Pakistan skipper Babar Azam to keep the consistency and stand united as “no team in the world can defeat them”. He further praised the home side for bringing back fans’ interestby their game.
“Victory or defeat is part of the game, no one cares about one loses after putting up a fight. But, the situation is that even when you [Babar Azam] don’t score runs, you make headlines,” Raja said.
Babar, who is the world’s best limited over batter (both ODIs and T20Is), broke two records in the series and earned a name in the book of world records.
“It was not easy to play in the heat. But nowhere did you show that you were not interested because of conditions,” the PCB chairman said.
