KARACHI: Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi will confer the highest civilian award and honorary citizenship on Darren Sammy, the former captain of West Indian cricket team, who is leading Peshawar Zalmi in Pakistan Super League T20 tournament.
The announcement was made by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) in a twitter post on Saturday. “President of Pakistan ArifAlvi will confer the highest civilian award and honorary citizenship to Darren Sammy on 23 March for his invaluable contribution to cricket in Pakistan,” the board tweeted. “By awarding Darren Sammy, President Arif Alvi has given a message to the world that the people of this country speak the language of love and peace,” Javed Afridi, owner of Peshawar Zalmi, told Arab News after the announcement.
The decision, he said in a twitter post, is the refection of the president’s love for cricket and Pakistan. Afridi said that his team, Peshawar Zalmi, was the first whose skipper had been awarded the highest civilian award of the country. The Pakistan cricket team used Dubai as its home ground for international matches after a terrorist attack against the Sri Lankan cricket squad on March 3, 2009.
The Pakistan Super League, one of the top T-20 leagues in the world, was also launched in Dubai in 2016, and all its matches were played in the United Arab Emirates. However, the final contest of the second edition in 2017 was played in Lahore at the Qaddafi Stadium in which Darren Sammy played in important role for his side. He also went out of his way to convince several international players to participate in PSL contests.
This is year, all PSL matches are played in Pakistan. The tournament’s opening ceremony was held in Karachi on Thursday while the final match will be played at Lahore’s Qaddafi stadium on March 22. The next day, Sammy will receive his award and honorary citizenship of the country. “Darren Sammy has done a great deal for the return of cricket in Pakistan,” Afridi said, adding, “We are happy that he has been appreciated for it.”
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