Zimbabwe cricket team coach Dav Whatmore said Zimbabwe’s Pakistan tour was an unprecedented experience that actually Barack Obama use go through. Pakistan assured sefty for Zimbabwe with jaw dropping operations.
In an interview with the ESPNcricinfo, Whatmore said that the Zimbabwe players have never seen heavy security arrangement like the one which Pakistan Cricket Board had organised for them in May.
With the visit of Zimbabwe, Pakistan has broken the six year cricket dry as in 2009 a deadly terrorist attack on visiting Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore lead countries to skip Pakistan tour. As a result, assuring sefty for Zimbabwe cricket team was a challenge for Pakistan. And what Whatmore stated nevertheless will attract eye balls from cricket world about the terror ridden country Pakistan.
“We probably got to experience what Barack Obama might go through, or any visiting head of state. I counted at least 24 vehicles in front of the bus. We always travelled in a convoy, and there were three buses – one like a decoy bus. Similar [number of vehicles] at the back. And then two on either side of us. And all the streets were just shut. And we had two helicopters as well. You’d be looking around during training and you could see them flying over,” Whatmore said, who was Pakistan’s coach for arround two years.
When Zimbabwe cricket landed in Pakistan thousands of security personnel from multiple agencies, armoured vechile, road closures, helicopters, snipers, a CCTV panopticon, and cover of less than three layers of security around the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore ensured Zimabwe’s safety.
But, for Zimbabwe, who practice in front of two sleepy polices at Harare Sports Club, it was a surreal experience; and after the practice they can easily mingled with the local people at in the Centurion pub. Whatmore said traveling was almost impossible, because security personnel always use to accompany him wherever he used to go.
“I thought, ‘I’ll leave myself half an hour to travel,'” Whatmore recounts. “I didn’t realise [situation like this]. They had two cars in front of me, and then a bike. A high-ranking uniformed police officer in the front seat of the Kombi, then two plainclothes with me in the cabin, and then two behind.”
“It only took us ten minutes to go to this restaurant, and then they cleared the car park there. I felt so humbled – all this for me. I was there 20 minutes early and had to sit by myself. And then of course the trip home was also only five or six minutes. So I didn’t have too much socialising.”
Nowadays, international sportsperson is blessed with media coverage and wealth but for Zimbabwe cricketers in collapsed economy all these are dream. They treated as general public in Zimbabwe.
But, in Pakistan the cricket frenzy nation a game is treated as religion; and players are being treated as celebrity. In this unprecedented security arrangement Zimbabwe cricketers found difficult to cope with the security personnel.
“In the hotel, we had the whole fourth floor,” Whatmore says. “Pakistan was on the third floor. Nice hotel. But you would sometimes have to excuse yourself in the corridor to get past security. And there were, I think, four different agencies. You had to walk around people to get to another room or go down breakfast.
“Coordinating that is not an easy thing. You can’t make a late decision to go somewhere. Training was always set in stone. Cancelling something was not a problem, but to add anything was almost impossible.
“The only time we saw people out in the streets was when you went to the ground for games, and it was packed – 25,000 or whatever. But everything else was deserted. It was incredible. It was extremes.”
However, Whatmore was overwhelmed with the way Pakistan fans accepted them. “There was a deep appreciation of what it meant to every person in that country. Six years they’ve been denied access to visiting teams, not to mention the negative financial knock-on effect. I think the players were sensitive to all that.
“I have to say, it was really wonderful to see that very first T20 match, when the anthems were playing, everyone in that packed stadium was singing that Pakistan anthem. Really moving stuff. And everyone was making the same comment to us: “Thank you very much, this is fantastic.” Even the Pakistan players, when they were interviewed, always would make it a point to thank Zimbabwe for coming along. During the games the ground announcer would also start a chant of ‘Zimbabwe’ and then the whole crowd would get involved. Amazing.”