It was 3rd day of march of year 2009 when a bus carrying Srilankan cricketers was attacked by 12 gunmen near the Gaddafi cricket stadium in lahore,Pakistan. Sources stated that six member of 
Srilankan cricket team were injured whereas two civilians and six brave policemen lost their lives during the incident.That day can be considered as the “Darkest day of Pakistan cricket”since its birth.
Pakistan was going through a tough time and it was made even tougher when other cricket teams decided not to visit Pakistan due to security reasons.It was a major setback to Pakistan’s cricket both mentally and financially.
The Newzeland cricket team was the first team to cancel its tour of Pakistan which was scheduled in December,2009.WorldCup’11 was scheduled to be played in South Asia which was to be hosted by Pakistan,India,Srilanka and Bangladesh but ICC made it clear that none of the teams are willing to play in Pakistan due to security issues and as a result it ended as no worldcup match being played in Pakistan.
A new generation of players, including new one-day skipper Azhar Ali,batsmen Asad Shafiq,Umar Akmal,Ahmed Shehzad,Sohaib Maqsood,Haris Sohail and left-arm seamers Junaid Khan,M.Irfan and Rahat Ali, has grown up never playing international cricket at home.
Due to the efforts of PCB head Shehryar Khan,finally after six long years,a test playing nation Zimbabwe has agreed to visit Pakistan which has brought a layer of happiness and excitement among the fans of Pakistan cricket.Zimbabwe will play 2 T20 internationals and 3 ODI’s during their short tour of Pakitan. This tour will not only just help Pakistan but also Zimbabwe as they will earn a healthy amount of money from this tour and in my opinion it is the only thing which motivated Zimbabwean team to tour Pakistan as they are going through tough times as per financial conditions of the board is concerned.
Brendan Taylor,a star player and former Zimbabwean captain took retirement from the Zimbabwean cricket due to money matters and signed a 3 year contract with a league team in England. Regardless of all,Cricket is coming back to my motherland and it is expected to be houseful at the Gaddafi stadium Lahore during all the matches.
In the end I would just like to thanks our former coach Bob Woolmer whose positive talks with his current board (Zimbabwean Cricket Board) convinced them to visit Pakistan and this credit equally goes to Pakistan’s current batting coach Grant Flower as well who was always there to convince his countrymen(Zimbabweans) to visit Pakistan. I hope that it will be a safe and successful tour for both the teams and it will help our board to convince other cricketing nations as well to visit Pakistan.It means a lot to us,Thank you very much Zimbabwe.
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