LAHORE: A brief but colourful opening ceremony marked the start of the inaugural Pakistan Junior League at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.

Amid tight security outside the venue, with the restaurants outside the stadium closed, fireworks lit up the night sky with all six teams lining up on the ground. Singer Asim Azhar also performed ahead of the opening game between Gujranwala Giants and Mardan Warriors.

The six-team league, the first its kind, will see 24 foreign cricketers compete alongside local talent with the Pakistan Cricket Board having hired the services of former greats including Javed Miandad, Sir Vivian Richards and Shahid Afridi among others as mentors.

“It’s not just the Pakistan Junior League but it’s Pakistan’s World Junior League,” said PCB chairman Ramiz Raja on Thursday.

Published in Dawn, October 7th, 2022