KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah has said that it is a matter of immense pleasure that eight matches of the Pakistan Super League have been successfully held in Karachi which shows that the old Karachi has returned with all its glory and lights and peace.

The chief minister observed this while speaking to journalists during his visit on Sunday morning to the National Stadium Karachi having capacity of 32,000 spectators to review arrangements of the final match of PSL being played between Quetta Gladiators and Peshawar Zalmai Sunday night.

Mr Shah, who was accompanied by Sindh Ministers Saeed Ghani, Imtiaz Shaikh and CM’s information adviser Murtaza Wahab, was briefed by officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board and the commissioner of Karachi on arrangements made for the PSL final at the National Stadium.

The chief minister appreciated the arrangements and congratulated the Pakistan Cricket Board for holding the PSL matches in the city successfully.

Replying to a question, the chief minister said that he was quite happy on holding the PSL matches successfully and expressed the hope that like the return of the old Karachi, old Pakistan would also return soon. He added that the last year’s final PSL match was also played in Karachi.

“The cricket fans not only from across the city, but also from the entire country enjoyed cricket and all efforts were made that the cricket fans should not face any hardship.”

In reply to yet another question, Mr Shah said that the PCB had also been making efforts to restore world cricket and after the eight PSL matches Karachi was looking towards world cricket.

After reviewing the final match arrangements, the chief minister visited the car parking areas reserved for the cricket match spectators on the university road, where work on construction of an under pass was under way.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2019