Shan Masood: “What would make it better would be that we get cricketing heroes like Ben Stokes, like Joe Root, like Jos Buttler, all of them even guys like Stuart Broad and James Anderson coming to Pakistan and just helping Pakistan cricket out”
Image courtesy of: ESPNcricinfo
Shan Masood has made an emotional plea to England to tour Pakistan in 2022 as he feels it will be a huge boost to the local population, who have been deprived of international cricket for so long.
The Pakistan opener said he would love to see players like Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler Joe Root, Stuart Broad and James Anderson playing in matches in Pakistan.
He added that he also thoroughly enjoys it when the crowd chant the names of the Pakistan players.
“I think cricket coming back to Pakistan was very meaningful for us. It makes us all very emotional, very passionate, because kids didn’t get to see their heroes, so people drifted away from the game,” Masood was quoted as saying by the BBC according to Cricket Pakistan.
“Now when you go to the stadium you hear chants of “Babar”, “Shaheen” and “Abid”. When Abid Ali made his debut and scored back-to-back centuries the way the crowd chanted “Abid! Abid!
“What would make it better would be that we get cricketing heroes like Ben Stokes, like Joe Root, like Jos Buttler, all of them even guys like Stuart Broad and James Anderson coming to Pakistan and just helping Pakistan cricket out.
“We’ve suffered a lot, we paid a huge price for whatever’s been going on around the world and I think our people, but especially our children, our future generation, they deserve to see not just their Pakistani heroes but the cricketing heroes from [around] the globe.”
Masood’s passionate comments come after Pakistan recently toured England in the midst of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic for three Tests and three T20 Internationals.
International cricket has slowly begun returning to Pakistan as Sri Lanka travelled there last year, during which the country held its first Test match in over a decade.
Bangladesh also toured Pakistan in January and February this year. They were supposed to return in April for a one-off ODI and the second Test, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.