Australia ended their historic tour of Pakistan on a high as they defeated the Men in Green in the one and only T20I at Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday night. The two sides played some fantastic cricket in front of an ecstatic Pakistani crowd over the past month as cricket truly returned to the country.
The successful tour led to former superstars demanding more cricket to be played in Pakistan. Former Australian all-rounder, Shane Watson, was hopeful that Australia will travel back to the country soon and urged other cricketing nations to tour Pakistan without any worry about security concerns.
Watson talked about the tour in a video uploaded by the International Cricket Council (ICC). Watson stated that Australia’s successful tour is great for the cricketing world as it opened the eyes of other top playing nations that Pakistan is a safe country to tour.
“I am stoked that everything worked out well for the Aussie team to be able to go over there and then also play the quality of cricket that they did. It’s a great thing for world cricket and I am very proud of the Aussie boys to have gone over there and played the way they did,” Watson remarked.
Former Pakistan captain, Shahid Afridi, also urged other cricketing nations to tour the country after Australia’s blockbuster tour of the country. Afridi thanked the Australian players and management for touring Pakistan after 24 years. He also thanked the Pakistani security forces for the commendable work and the fans for lighting up the stadiums.
I would like to thank the entire Australian squad & mgmt for coming to 🇵🇰 for after 24 years. I hope other teams will follow their footsteps & visit Pakistan. Thanks to our security forces and huge shoutout to all the fans who went out to the stadiums #PAKvAUS
— Shahid Afridi (@SAfridiOfficial) April 5, 2022
While Pakistan suffered a setback last year as New Zealand and England called off their scheduled tours, Australia’s decision to go through with the tour could be the catalyst for cricket truly coming back to Pakistan.
