IT was like a breath of fresh air to watch the young and old, ladies and children converge on a once deserted National Stadium Karachi to enjoy, be entertained and to endorse the age old dictum that ‘Where there is a will there is a way’.

What some time back had looked like a tell-tale story had become for them a reality as players from overseas walked in at the stadium to play two T20 matches at the weekend.

The stadium in the last three years since the gun attack on the Sri Lankan team in March 2009 had rarely seen such sight, barring a couple of limited-overs domestic games, a full house bustling with excitement and activity as it did when on the first day a packed to capacity crowd of more than 32,000 cheered and chanted at the proceedings.

The second day even with a little crowd but still 23,000 in attendance were as much enthusiastic. What mattered to most to them was not which team won and who lost but the fact that a dream had come out to be true and right in front of their cricket hungry eyes.

The discipline and decorum which the crowd displayed during both the matches confirmed the fact that when given the opportunity the citizens of Karachi and Pakistan can rise on their feet to support a worthwhile cause.

Thankfully, it all ended in celebration and fireworks on Sunday evening to confirm that the mission which at one time looked impossible was accomplished to signal to its doubters that even in hard times for this country, there are people and players who can defy the odds to prove that things can be done.

It was a sort of combined effort which obviously was the brainchild of a club cricketer, a philanthropist and an eminent orthopaedic surgeon Mohammad Ali Shah who also happened to be the sports minister of the Sindh province.

His endless effort to bring home the foreign cricketers to liven the game has now obviously come to fruition with the help of the members of his team like Badar Rafaie, a cricketer living in the US and Mahmood Malik, a Pakistani expatriate resident in Cape Town, South Africa, and a hoard of other people like Dr Shah’s wife Asma Shah who has now become the first Pakistani woman to be made the member of the prestigious club MCC and their sons Junaid and Imran.

It certainly was not an easy project to handle, and without the support of the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf and the Sindh government, it could only have been half done. They all need to be appreciated for the assistance that they provided to this idea to be given a shape and to tell the world that when it comes to sports the Pakistanis always stand on their feet to beat the odds.

Here I suppose the most important actors of the whole plot were the players from Sri Lanka, South Africa, Afghanistan and the West Indies who despite all the opposition agreed to back the noble cause and help out Pakistan cricket with their presence.

Mahmood Malik, the manager of the South African players, told in an interview that even before boarding the aircraft at Johannesburg for Pakistan there were people and some of the players’ wives persuaded their hubbies not to go to Pakistan. But courage and goodness prevailed as the players once committed had made sure that they did not let the people of Pakistan down.

Sanath Jayasuriya, the record breaking Sri Lankan batsman and a former captain of his country, and Alvin Kallicharran, the West Indian great and one of the best left-handers of his time, who managed the International World XI to Pakistan were as much positive in their approach to make sure that the visit and the commitment is fulfilled.

Pakistan owe them a great debt and their players who visited Pakistan to help and try bring the international teams to Pakistan.

This event, however, provides Pakistan government, its security and also the PCB with a new leaf to turn and work on it to convince the cricketing world that all is not wrong in Pakistan and when it comes to sports, especially cricket, things can be worked out to host international teams again.

It would certainly be difficult in the present situation but there is always a beginning. It is said that ‘well begun is half done’ and there is no doubt in the fact that Dr Shah and Co have now done the spade work, the rest would hopefully be looked at when the time comes.

For many this may be a small step by Dr Shah and his team, but there is no doubt in my mind that the event organised last weekend was larger than a giant leap for all of us.