South Africa Test skipper Faf du Plessis lauded Pakistan’s efforts for arranging the Independence Cup in a bid to win back the confidence of foreign teams to tour Pakistan again. It was Du Plessis who led a World XI team in a three-match T20I series in Lahore in the last five days. It also allowed Pakistan to showcase their capabilities of hosting an international match after a long time. Only Zimbabwe toured Pakistan for a brief series in 2015 since the militant attack on Pakistan’s team bus during the 2009 tour.
“I appreciate there was a lot of planning, a lot of time, a lot of money, a lot of energy spent in the planning of this week. Everything was very smooth and very easy and we say thank you for that,” Du Plessis told reporters on Friday. The home team clinched the 3 match T20I series by a 2-1 margin after winning the decider by 33 runs in front a 25,000 packed capacity crowd at the Gaddafi Stadium.
Players from 7 different countries were arranged in a 14 member team, and it was possible only due to the constant efforts of the Pakistan Cricket Broad, ICC and the members of the team who traveled to Pakistan to take part in the Independence Cup.
The arrangements were in top order as several thousand security officials who also included armed soldiers who guarded the stadium and the team hotel. The spectators who watched the matches had to cross through at least four different checkpoints before entering the stadium.
Several thousand security officials, including armed soldiers, guarded the stadium and the team hotel. Spectators had to pass through at least four security checkpoints before entering the stadium. Fans came in huge numbers and occupied their seats way before the match started.
“I just loved seeing the emotion on people’s faces, that’s something that stood out for me,” Du Plessis said. “I’ve never been part of a game where there’s been so much emotions and appreciativeness from the crowd when they are cheering you as if you are playing at your own home crowd, so that’s very good to be part of.”
Du Plessis was one among the 5 South African players who were part of the squad. Hashim Amla, David Miller, Morne Morkel and Imran Tahir were the four others. However, he is not so convinced with the fact that the short T20I series will be enough for his country to resume playing bilateral matches in Pakistan.
“They will have to be a completely different set of things put in place for South Africa to come and tour here,” he said. “I’m sure if there was an opportunity … and they saw all the procedures that were put in place and the feedback we as a player, then that could be an option.”
Du Plessis conceded that he was little nervous before touring Pakistan, but once he was in Lahore, he had no complaints.
“When I first thought of coming, obviously there was little bit of nervousness within myself,” he said. “Now going through this week … we’ve really enjoyed as a team, everything was very enjoyable for us.”
Meanwhile Andy Flower the coach of the World XI side said that the players would return to their respective countries with happy memories and hoped that the series would help the young cricketers in Pakistan to take up cricket seriously after seeing the star players back playing on their home ground.
“This tour is another reminder of the fact that cricket transcends boundaries,” he said. “They’ve (the youngsters) seen some of the best players across the world live in action and this might be the beginning of the cricketing journey of Hashim Amla or Faf du Plessis.”