It’s that time of the
year again when cricket enthusiasts line up and flock to the stadium to watch
their favorite team compete with the rivals. Screens are put across the country and friends and family reunite; be it the Zalims, or Gladiators,
along with Kings and Qalandars followed by Sultans and United; each team has a
huge set of fans roaring for victory.
In Pakistan, we all were deprived
of international level cricket for a very long time. The political cum law and
order situation, along with the 2009 attack on SriLankan Cricket team
absolutely ticked Pakistan off the list of safe countries for international
players. The nation which is inherently a fan of Cricket despite Hockey being
its national sport was shorn off their favorite game for many years.
With the launched of PCB’s own league called
PSL in 2015; cricket and international players were encouraged to play matches
with our players. Earlier all the matches would take place in Abu-Dhabi but
fortunately few years back cricket finally came home. The nation witnessed its
first PSL final in 2018 in Karachi’s very own National Stadium. The
arrangements done in terms of security and convenience for those who came to play
and watch the match were par excellence. This year also the government of Sindh
has made special security/ seating arrangements for the matches that will be
played in Karachi. The city is bustling with PSL festivities, with a few glitches
as expected. The reason for these glitches is primarily this over populated
city which is incapable of traffic arrangements, along with its people who are
not at all trained to follow rules or understand the concept of a queue;
patience is another nemesis of the people of Karachi.
Amid this chaos and traffic jams, a
ray of hope and enthusiasm ignites the ‘josh’ of the awam. The ray of hope is in terms of including the “especially-able”
in the festivities of PSL. A very welcoming provision that was added by the
government of Sindh was to make ‘Wheel chair ramps’ for the
differently able. The government is also making arrangements to bring in ‘visually
and hearing impaired’ individuals
so they can also enjoy their favorite game. This is indeed a very positive step
taken by the government of Sindh to make specially-able individuals a part of
the main stream life in the city. More such initiatives should be taken in
other fields to encourage the differently able individuals so they can live with
equal opportunity and be self sufficient.
Though I am not a huge fan of the
game since Khan Sahab bade farewell to it, nevertheless this inclusion of
especially-able has brought back positive vibes about this game.
Interesting , I didn’t know about the arrangements for specially abled it’s a great initiative 👏so glad that PSL has returned to home ground although we will miss the fun here in Dubai
ReplyDeleteyes indeed its a great initiative by Sindh Govt. though UAE had an amazing setup the country needed cricket on home ground.
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