Najam Sethi was recently elected as PCB chairman. (Source: AP)
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has hired an international security company on a three-year contract in a bid to revive international cricket in Pakistan. This was confirmed by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Najam Sethi.
“It’s a step by the ICC for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan. The company is based in three countries – the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates – and has a good repute,” the dawn.com quoted Sethi as saying.
“A representative of the Federation of International Cricketers (FICA) will accompany the security company to personally monitor the security situation in Lahore,” he added.
As per the reports, the visit of this security team is scheduled to take place at the end of this month or in the starting of September
“It will be a four-day visit where the security company will work with the government of Punjab to get assurances that all the recommendations submitted by security experts of the different countries who visited Lahore to watch the final of the second Pakistan Super League (PSL) season have been incorporated by the government in its SOPs, or not,” Sethi said.
It may be recalled here that international cricket matches in Pakistan have been few and far since 2009 when the Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked by a group of gunmen. Though Zimbabwe did make a visit in 2015, but it didn’t really change the conditions of international cricket in the country.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, earlier, President of Sri Lanka cricket Thilanga Sumathipala had assured that they are ready to travel to Pakistan to play cricket “if all logistical and operational plans fall in place”.
“Cricket is a game of change, chance and chase” Sumathipala said. “The game today, and its following is very different to what it was 10 years ago and as administrators, we are faced with a different set of challenges to overcome. World cricket is in the hands of the unity of Asia. We need to respectfully understand each other’s problems and stand by each other. This is the spirit of the Asian Cricket Council,” he added.
