LAHORE – The Pakistan cricket team has made a point during the ongoing World Cup with just one loss and six wins, including the one against defending champions Australia in the last league match. Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who was fighting to regain form just before the big event, found it just at the right time and is now the leading wicket-taker of the event. Just a month ago, no one was ready to believe that the team would gel like a perfect unit, although they thrashed New Zealand on their own soil just before the World Cup.
Afridi, before leaving for the World Cup, promised that Pakistan will make it to the semi-finals and that promise has been fulfilled. The team’s progress thus far has given a new lease of life to the Ijaz Butt-led PCB, which has seen worst of the periods in recent times. Before leaving his office, Ijaz Butt would be a happy man as it was under his chairmanship that the team won its first Test and ODI series since 2007, and the team which was nowhere among the favourites reached the semi-finals of the World Cup. And if Mr Butt succeeds in bringing international cricket back to Pakistani soil, the most hated chief would become the most liked chairman in this cricket obsessed nation.
It all depends on how good he is at convincing the cricket world to return to Pakistan. Pakistan team, on the other hand, has made it clear that without their presence, the cricket arena is incomplete. Despite the fact that several attempts were made to suppress the terror-stricken country, one of the most talented bunch cricketers have survived the controversies and now seem to have understood the importance of winning for the country.
