Showing gratitude for their services to cricket, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has invited Javed Miandad and Sri Lanka’s Bandula Warnapura as special guests for the historic Rawalpindi Test, which will be played from December 11-15.
Warnapura and Miandad were opposite captains in the first-ever Test between the two countries at Karachi’s National Stadium in March 1982. Pakistan had won that Test by 204 runs after scoring 396 and 301-4d. Sri Lanka scored 344 and 149.
The two celebrated and respected cricketers will take part in the captains’ photo-shoot with the series trophy on December 10, while special presentations will be made to them during lunch interval on day one of the Test.
Pakistan will host Sri Lanka for two-match Test series which will be a part of the ICC World Test Championship.
“December 11 will be a very special day in Pakistan cricket history and it is appropriate that it is celebrated with Bandula Warnapura and Javed Miandad on our side. They are icons of cricket, whose services to the game are unmatched,” PCB chairman Ehsan Mani said in a statement.
“The PCB respects and values all its international cricketers and this is a small token of our love, appreciation, and respect for them. The PCB will continue to acknowledge and hold similar events for others cricketer as we are now on a road to hosting regular international cricket at home,” he added.
Pakistan squad for Sri Lanka Test series: Azhar Ali (c), Abid Ali, Asad Shafiq, Babar Azam, Fawad Alam, Haris Sohail, Imam-ul-Haq, Imran Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas, Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Naseem Shah, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Yasir Shah, Usman Shinwari.
Pakistan will play their first Test on home soil after a gap of ten years. In 2009, the Sri Lankan team was on their way to Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for a Test match with Pakistan, when terrorists fired indiscriminately on their bus. That attack left eight people dead and injured seven Sri Lankan players and staff.
Since then, international cricket had eluded Pakistan with no high-profile team visiting the country for a full-length tour.
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