LAHORE: Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board, Najam Sathi said on Thursday that it is the collective responsibility of the Government and the masses to make the tour of the star studded XI a big success in the coming day.
He was speaking at the logo unveiling ceremony of the Independence day Cup between Pakistan and the ICC World XI commencing here from September 12 and the three T20 matches will be played in it.
Also present on the occasion were officials of the PCB and the sponsors of the event.
Najam Sathi said besides Government and PCB, it is the people of the Pakistan who will be playing a significant role in the success of the World XI tour.
“It is our collective responsibility as the fate of resumption of international cricket in Pakistan heavily depends on the success of the World XI tour “,said the PCB Chief.
“If we successfully host the World XI then Sri Lankan and West Indies teams will also be visiting Pakistan in coming months and by that way we will see the return of international cricket in Pakistan “,he added.
He said once international cricket returns to Pakistan PCB will be holding discussions with the other cricket boards regarding the visit of their respective teams to Pakistan in due course of time.
“The task of having World XI in Pakistan was challenging, we overcome a number of hurdles , to satisfy the ICC hired security team was challenging, there were a lot of demands of the Word XI players, we sorted out problems related to the foreign cricketers and their respective Boards”, said Najam Sathi in a confident tone.
He said one of the important task was to form a World XI which comprises top notch cricketers of the world and by the grace of Allah Almighty PCB was successful in this regard as the World XI is a mixture of seven cricket playing of the globe.
Najam Sathi said PCB was striving to stage international cricket matches at Karachi and it was also aiming to hold World XI matches there but unfortunately foreign players were not ready to play in the port city.
“It does not mean that we have given up ( to hold matches in Karachi) we will be making things better in Karachi and we will also arrange the visit of the security teams there to satisfy them in regard to security issues “,he said adding ” it is a step by step measure, first we will be holding Pakistan super league matches in Karachi then we will also organise international matches there and that is the way to ensure the resumption of international cricket to Karachi “.
To a question he said PCB is selling the tickets of the independence day cup in a fair manner as this event is not a profit earning venture and PCB wants to minimize its losses as it will be difficult to answer and satisfy the audit people and PCB Board of Governors in case huge losses are suffered in the three match series.
PCB Chief expressed his gratitude to the sponsors for extending support to the Board and said efforts are underway to seek sponsorship for the top four regions of the PCB to bring improvement in the domestic cricket.
He said the visit of the World XI is a step forward to give good name and respect to the national cricket and it is national duty to portray a positive image of the country to prove the world that Pakistan is a safe country for elite cricket events.
He said people’s interest is immense to buy the tickets of the first match of the series and people have to wait for hours to buy the tickets which are available in less number due to limited sitting capacity at the Gadaffi stadium.
Najam Sathi said PCB will be holding a reception to honour national series including Misbah ul Haq, Younis Khan and Shahid Afridi on September 14 and it is hoped that these players will attend the ceremony.
