THE scheduled showpiece World XI matches are to be played in Lahore next month, a city and at a venue where terrorists opened fire at the touring Sri Lankan team in March 2009, leading to shutting the doors of international cricket for Pakistan.

However, if there is a will then there always is a way to turn things around; so those at the helm of affairs were able to convince the cricket fraternity to allow foreign teams to tour Pakistan.

The first such step was taken by the late Dr Mohammad Ali Shah who successfully lured some of the world cricketers and mostly those who had already quit the scene or were not in demand to play an exhibition match at Karachi’s National Stadium in a floodlit game which attracted a sizeable crowd.

The second opportunity, of course, was the visit of the Zimbabwean team in 2015, which at the invitation of the PCB played at the Gaddafi Stadium under massive security which still was unable to prevent an explosion outside the ground.

The incident did attract negative publicity in certain quarters with various versions of it presented by different television channels and by the written press.

Not since anything noticeable has come to light except twice the ‘Wounded Tiger XI’ from England, led by British journalist Peter Oborne, quietly slipped into the country twice to play matches against clubs in Karachi, Lahore and Chitral in 2015 and were well-received by the locals wherever they played without making any attempt for publicity.

In a cricket-mad world, Pakistani supporters at least had a little taste of what their country urgently needed to be restored as host to international teams even if at the cost of millions of rupees, to show to the world that a genuine effort was being made.

We must try and appreciate the homework done by the Pakistan Cricket Board to make sure nothing untoward happens. For this, maximum security and precautions need to be taken but not in a way as to give an impression to the world that international matches could be played only under tight security and only on one venue, which has already seen serious incidents earlier on to keep the teams away.

The PCB in their own wisdom perhaps know better of how and why they have once again chosen to hold matches only at Lahore and not at Karachi and Rawalpindi to at least show to the world that tight security in the country is not as much a problem as is being presented in the international media.

To deprive fans of the game this rare opportunity from a city of teeming millions like Karachi of watching international cricketers of various countries does not leave positive vibes that cricketing authorities would wish for Test-playing countries to convince them to make an attempt to visit the country and play in front of the cricket-starved crowds of Pakistan.

Pakistan with all its cricket facilities and scenic beauty has been a big favourite for cricket fans over the years and still could be if law and order is taken as a priority rather than money laundering and rampant corruption at all levels which has been a bane for our country for too long.

At present, we are no less than nomads of the game because of the factors that combine together much like South Africa was during its isolation from 1970 to 1992 because of their racial discrimination policy of apartheid had resulted in their banishment from the game by the ICC.

Ours is a different case altogether, a self-inflicted one for lack of detailed and professional care of the population which still suffers from the hands of successive corrupt governments.

In a time like this, we must unite to offer full support to attempts such as this to bring some sanity in every walk of life whether politics or sports.

Let us, therefore, welcome the World XI which is no doubt star-studded with attractions like Hashim Amla and Faf du Plessis. Let us hope that nothing sinister happens during their presence in the country. And let us also hope that the event, even though being held in only one city, turns out to be a huge success so as to attract international teams in future and not a con-event as was recently staged in the US with Floyd Mayweather fighting Conor McGregor to shortchange the crowd.

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2017