No excuse for teams not to tour Pakistan now : Sarfraz
KARACHI: Pakistan’s captain Sarfaraz Ahmed has said that following the successful Pakistan vs West Indies series, there is no excuse left for other teams to not visit Pakistan to play cricket in the future.
Speaking to the media after Pakistan’s clean sweep in three-match series against West Indies, the skipper said that Pakistan has proved that it can host the international matches in a secure environment.
“We hosted PSL matches here. World XI team came to play. Sri Lankan team came here. West Indies team played. Now there is no excuse for other teams for not coming to Pakistan,” said Sarfaraz.
“We have shown it to everyone that Pakistan can host international matches successfully,” he added.
The wicketkeeper-batsman also hailed the people of Karachi who came in large numbers to the National Stadium, cheering for the team and celebrating the return of cricket to the largest city of Pakistan.
“Karachiites proved in last three days that why the city is called city of lights,” he said.
“I want to appreciate people of Karachi. There were inconveniences and several security checks, but the people of Karachi endured it all to support cricket in Pakistan,” Sarfaraz said.
Replying to a question, Sarfaraz said that it would be unfair to term the visiting team a weaker side.
“We played better than them. It is not fair to call them a B side, and most of the players in the squad were here with experience of international cricket,” Sarfaraz said while expressing satisfaction over the performance of youngsters.
“It is good that young players are coming in and performing. We gave an opportunity to all the players so that we can strengthen our bench too,” the captain stated.
Sarfraz brushed aside the debate that West Indies sent a second string team, saying that no one was asked to send a second string team. It was a team from West Indies and Pakistani players treated the team as such, he said.
The Pakistan skipper, meanwhile, announced that he would donate his match fees from the third T20I to the ground staff of the National Stadium.
