Daily Times

Sri Lanka lost the series yet win the heart along with signing–off satisfaction with safety and security measures in Pakistan’s first home Test series in 10 years.

Talking to the post-series media conference, the Srilankan Captain Dimuth Karunaratne called the security for the two-Test series “200 percent” on Monday and vowed to come back again at any time.

The Pak-Srilanka Test Series held a major significance for the host nation which was deprived of Test cricket for almost a decade. Since, Pakistan was compelled to play its home series, mostly in the United Arab Emirates along with the UK since 2009, when the bus carrying the Sri Lanka team was being attacked in Lahore, which lost six policemen with two civilians.

“When we were going out to eat or something, they were there. We were feeling secure and safe here. They’ve done a really good job. Pakistan fans are really good – they kept supporting us… What I can say is that it’s really safe here and that all the other countries playing cricket – they can come and playtests, T20s or one-dayers – it’s safe to play in Pakistan.” Karunaratne added.

Nevertheless, the Srilankan team got a relaxed tour to the shopping mall and restaurant both in Rawalpindi and Karachi – during the day times and night, respectively.

It is to recollect, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has said it will make an outing for a guest team anywhere in Pakistan as per their choices following only a concerned with us earlier.

Then the Srilankan players who had missed the previous series of Pakistan in September-October 2019, showed high regret.

“I really regret, I should have had come then and played,” The captain Karunaratne had told on the eve of the second Test.

It is pertinent to recall, this was the third visit which the Srilankan Cricket team has visited Pakistan since August 2017, and since the security circumstance in Pakistan has been improved – no doubt these tours have and will boost the positive image of Pakistan which had been absent on International media, since quite a while in the past.

For the time being, the PCB chairman Ahsan Mani repeated his stance that now onwards, Pakistan will play all the host series in Pakistan and there remains no need for the second option.

“All of Pakistan’s matches, against Bangladesh or anyone else, will take place in Pakistan. No one should be in any doubt about this.” The chairman said.

Meanwhile, he said the security situation in Pakistan is much better than India, while it is as safe as countries like England or Australia for playing cricket.