Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Ch Zaka Ashraf has disclosed that the efforts were underway to revive the old Test status of the famous Dring Stadium, Bahawalpur and in this regard the PCB has contacted the Punjab government to finalise all related matters as well as the PCB has been trying hard to bring back the International cricket in Pakistan.
He remarked these views during a meeting with the students of the Media Studies Department, Islamia University, Bahawalpur during their recent visit to the PCB Headquarters at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. The Former captains of the Pakistan Cricket Team and currently the PCB officials, Intikhab Alam and Javed Miandad, were also present on the occasion.
The PCB chairman said that all possible guidance, coaching and facilities are being provided to the players to ensure their fitness and performance under all conditions and special attention had also been given to their character building so that they could behave in a gentle way everywhere to keep alive the image of the country and nation as well as the team.
The former national team captains, Intikhab and Miandad, informed the students that the national team had always been selected purely on merit but sometimes players could not perform up to the mark due to certain reasons as sometimes they lose their form, which affect the team performance. They expressed complete confidence in star all-rounder, Shahid Afridi and said that he was still a valuable player.
They also showed complete confidence in the captain Misbah-ul-Haq and said he was still a reliable player though bad pitches somehow affects the performance of the players but we had given him again a chance to prove his worth and surely he would. The students invited the PCB chairman and former captains of the national team to visit the Islamia University, Bahawalpur which they accepted and assured to visit the university. Zaka also presented the PCB souvenir to the head of the visiting students group, Prof Dr Abdul Wajid Khan.