Written by Sahar Iqbal
KARACHI: Karachi welcomes International cricket as it comes to the city of lights. After successful matches of PSL in Pakistan, we witnessed cricket making its mark in Karachi once again. The long hours of waiting in the stadium and multiple security checks did not fade the crowd’s passion and enthusiasm. One the very last day of three-day cricket series, Karachi successfully delivered the gargantuan task of security to crowd management after a decade. It is obvious that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has spent a lot of time overviewing the arrangements and refurbishing the stadium besides, restoring the public’s confidence that we are able to pull off an event like this smoothly. Here are the top five memorable moments from the West Indies and Pakistan match series in Karachi.
A stadium filled with echoes of the national anthem
Karachites did not disappoint when the sound system in the stadium broke down. In a goosebump-inducing moment, the entire stadium stood up chanting the national anthem on the top of their lungs and that too in sync with each other, really capturing the mood and spirit of welcoming cricket back in the country. This technical glitch became one of Pakistan’s historical moments of cricket.
Dil Dil Pakistan made a comeback in the stadium
The National Stadium seems to have become a place where patriotism and passion have been reborn. Another heart-melting scene was to hear ‘Dil Dil Pakistan’ making a comeback. Audiences sitting in all enclosures sang the song.
Find the ‘B’
After the integrations of sponsors and brands in PSL, we have seen a lot of brand activations in this series as well. On entry points, audience members who came to watch the match got a chance to record how they were feeling about attending an international series in their homeland, standing next to Pakistani and Windies player cutouts. Additionally, on ground audiences were given a chance to win free room makeovers by Brighto Paints through a campaign called “Find the B’, which sent home many happy winners.
Shadab Khan in hot waters for abusing Walton Shadab Khan’s incident happened in the ninth over of the Windies’ innings when he, after dismissing Chadwick Walton, pointed his finger at the departing batsmen and made an inappropriate comment. Though the commentators laughed it out, he was fined for his inappropriate behaviour and rightly so.
Spectators giving out a message to the world through Placards
We saw the audience carrying heartfelt placards to express their feelings about cricket coming back to the grounds of Karachi. One of the placards stated, ‘We are Muslims, we are not terrorists’, showing the fun-loving nature of our countrymen who love a good game.
