LAHORE: Pakistan Teh­reek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan accorded all credit to Zimbabwe for the revival of international cricket in Pakistan.

The Zimbabwe team’s arri­ving in Pakistan to play mat­ches is a good omen, he said.

Speaking to media personnel at the Lahore airport, Mr Khan said Pakistan had been deprived of international cricket because of the government’s lax attitude to security for the Sri Lankan team six years ago.

Also read: Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by two wickets in nail biter

“The government knew that there was a threat but it let the Sri Lankan team move without proper security and protocol,” he said.

The former captain said luckily for Pakistan the attack on the Sri Lankan team did not claim any foreigner’s life.

He said Pakistan should be grateful to the Zimbabwe cricket team for visiting Pakistan and hoped that more teams would follow suit.

Mr Khan, who later watched the second day-night T-20 between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at Gaddafi Stadium, told journalists that it was he who had delivered the first-ever ball under the floodlights to Ian Chappel in Australia. He said T-20, quite popular today, was not played during his cricketing days.

Mr Khan was accompanied by his wife Reham Khan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak and PTI leader Jehangir Tareen.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) had invited the cricketer-turned-politician to watch the match.

Though there were speculations that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is Patron-in-Chief of the PCB, would also watch the match, only the PTI chief was there at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Imran Khan was welcomed by PCB Chairman Shaharyar M. Khan along with Zakir Khan, who was one of the witnesses of Nikah of Imran Khan with Reham Khan.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2015

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