Crowd support made T10 fun: Zaheer

Former pace ace Zaheer Khan, who played for Bengal Tigers in the T10 League, is delighted with the experience of having played in the shortest format of the game.

When asked about his views on this format, he thanked the fans that turned up in large numbers at the Sharjah Stadium. “For any cricketer when you have good crowd support, it is always fun to play. So it has been fantastic and I enjoyed it thoroughly,” he said.

Zaheer, who turned 40 in October, looked fit and still made the ball talk and generated the same pace from his international cricket days and showed his ability to contain aggressive batsmen. In the match against Pakhtoons, he stopped Andre Fletcher from reaching his half century by having him caught. He also dismissed the Maratha Arabians’ Hazratullah Zazai, who demolished bowling attacks with ease. “The Sharjah stadium is an iconic one. So many matches have been played here, so it is always wonderful to come back to the stadium and perform here.”

Joining Zaheer in applauding the crowd response was legendary pacer Wasim Akram, coach of Maratha Arabians. “The crowd has been loving it and so has the players and team owners. I have been coming to this stadium since many decades and the attitude of the fans have never changed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Shaji Ul Mulk, chairman of T10 League, revealed that next edition will have 30 matches. “We will see 30 matches next year instead of 29 of this edition. The dates are from October 16-25, subject to any changes in Future Tour Programme. We are talking to many cricket boards to take the format globally,” he said.