LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board is ready to share sports expertise with Saudi Arabia, its new chief told Arab News, as the game is increasingly growing in popularity in the Kingdom.
Cricket matches have been organized in Saudi Arabia since 1960s, when the game was introduced by expatriates from Pakistan and India. As years passed, the sport became more structured and local clubs began to form.
The Kingdom became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2003 and in 2016 was promoted to associate membership.
But the game’s real boom began only recently, with the establishment of the Saudi Arabian Cricket Federation in 2020, which has since lined up a series of programs to promote the sport at home and prepare national teams to compete with the world’s best in the future.
One of those bests is Pakistan, where cricket is the most popular sport — played, watched and loved by people across the country that for decades has been one of the top players in the International Cricket Council’s Test, ODI and Twenty20 rankings.
Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi speaks to Arab News Pakistan in an exclusive interview in Lahore, Pakistan on January 1, 2023. (AN photo)
“We would be more than willing to go and help the Saudis put up a cricketing structure there, if asked,” Najam Sethi, who last month took charge of the board that controls the South Asian nation’s domestic cricket and national teams, said in an exclusive interview with Arab News on Sunday.
Pakistan is home to some of the world’s best cricketers, including the all-rounder former prime minister Imran Khan who led the country to the 1992 world cup victory, the legendary fast bowler Wasim Akram, the current chief selector Shahid Afridi — one of the greatest ODI all-rounders of all time — or Pakistan team captain Babar Azam, the only cricketer ever to be in the top five rankings across all formats.
“We have the expertise, we have the talent, we have the knowledge and if the Saudis want us to help them, we’ll certainly do that,” Sethi said, citing successful experiences in cricket cooperation with other countries, like neighboring Afghanistan, which has lately become a top world player.
Many Afghan players were trained by Pakistani coaches and the creation of the Afghanistan Cricket Federation in 1995 was supported by Pakistan. Since then, the game has exploded in popularity in Afghanistan, and cricketers such as spin bowler Rashid Khan or batsman Mohammad Nabi have become global stars.
Afghanistan is now 9th in the ICC’s ODI rankings and in 2017 became the first country to achieve ICC full member status after holding affiliate membership.
