New league to ‘change image’
WE WANT TO PORTRAY SOMETHING SOFTER, THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT
For all the euphoria over their remarkable Champions Trophy triumph at the weekend, Pakistan cricket still remains in a trance-like state, a team of nomads since their troubled country still cannot host international cricket due to security concerns.
But Fawad Rana and Javed Afridi, the T20 Global League franchise owners for Durban and Benoni, are hoping their involvement in South Africa’s new tournament will help to change the image of Pakistan cricket.
Afridi and his Haier Pakistan company own the Peshawar Zalmi team that are the reigning Pakistan Super League (PSL) cham- pions, and he wants to expand the benefits of that tournament by linking his team with the new T20 Global League.
“Zalmi means ‘passionate youth’ in our Pashto language and I’ve been to Benoni and almost two-thirds of that city are youth. We have a passion for youth so we will definitely work with them.
“Peshawar is in the north of Pakistan and in the last 20 to 30 years we have been traumatised by terrorism. So the area needs something different, which is why we got involved with a PSL team, to help with deradicalisation and try and improve society. And there has been a massive response.
“We will operate with the same spirit in South Africa, establish some activities for the people in Benoni and our Zalmi Foundation. The PSL has been the biggest thing in Pakistan cricket, there has been so much of an excited response to it. We want to portray the real image of Pakistan, something softer, and this message is really important for us,” Afridi said.
Rana is based in Lahore and takes refuge in the teachings of the saintly Qalandars after which his PSL team is named, and he hopes to bring the same spiritual values of holiness and humanity to the port city of Durban.
“The Qalandars are God-fearing but selfless and fearless, and one thing the Qalandars will bring to Durban is what Pakistan were able to do in the Champions Trophy and that is make the world surprised. We have unearthed some fascinating talent, like Fakhar Zaman. We want to connect at the grassroots and then globally,” Rana said.