LAHORE: Fans gave overwhelming response to the first Twenty20 International between Pakistan and Zimbabwe at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday as international cricket returned to Pakistan after six long years amid emotions and fanfare.

PCB officials, who have their offices in front of the two media rooms, brought in a number of their friends and relatives which created problems for the journalists covering the match.

One of the two media rooms was fully occupied by PCB staff members and their friends. The journalists, who were forced to fit in just one media room, faced lots of problems as the guests of two PCB officials placed their chairs in front of the media room glass, disturbing the match view. Despite repeated requests, the visitors paid no heed and refused to move aside.

Security personnel were deployed in and around the stadium in large number and no untoward incident took place anywhere.

It has been noticed in the past that security personnel let their friends and relatives enter the stadium without tickets which creates problems for genuine ticket holders but this time no such incident was witnessed.

The spectators were not allowed to bring eatables with them, not even drinking water, but they could buy it from their respective enclosure. However, no such arrangements were seen in Saeed Anwar and Sarfraz Nawaz enclosures.

These enclosures are low priced and do not even have proper chairs for the spectators.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2015

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