Peshawar/Miranshah — The Pakistan army organized a friendly cricket match between Pakistan – XI and UK Media – XI under the Peace Cup 2017 in the Younas Khan Cricket Stadium, Miranshah on Thursday.
Pak-XI defeated UK Media-XI with a huge margin of 133 runs including former national captain Shahid Afridi’s 80 runs. Kamran Akmal and Umar Ameen made fifties against the UK Media-XI.
Batting first, Pakistan scored 254 runs in the 20-over match, with the UK batsmen struggling to reach 121 for seven wickets.
In collaboration with the Pakistan Cricket Board and Peshawar Zalmi, Pakistan army held the match which was fixed at Miranshah on special instructions of the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Gen Javed Qamar Bajwa who dubbed it as a gift to the residents of Federally Administrated Tribal Areas (Fata).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uubRM8XEudA
The state run PTV Sports was also telecasting the match live. All the players marched onto the pitch wearing turbans and military officials also came onto the field to greet the foreigners playing for UK Meida-XI.
Pak-XI was made up of prominent players like Inzimamul Haq, Shahid Afridi, Younas Khan, Kamran Akmal, Junaid Khan, Umer Gull, Mushtaq Ahmed, Riaz Afridi and Wajhat ullah Wasti.
The UK Media-XI is part of an 18-member group of journalists, lawyers, businessmen and academics aged between 21-62, visiting Pakistan for peace and promoting the country for international games.
So happy abt the T20 match being played in Miranshah. After so much violence, the ppl of North Waziristan are being provided entertainment
— Imran Khan (@ImranKhanPTI) September 21, 2017
Hundreds of spectators from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) witness the match Younas Khan stadium where army commanders and governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Zafar Iqbal Jhagra were also present.
The match is part of a series titled Peace Cup, organised by the Pakistan Army, Pakistan Cricket Board and PSL franchise Peshawar Zalmi.
Alex Massie, a player for the UK side, tweeted that Pakistan lost only one wicket, confirming that his side lost seven.
“I nearly got Inzaman out caught behind. An astonishing, magical time,” he added, “What a place to visit.”
The Pakistan army launched a major offensive in 2014 against local and foreign militants in North Waziristan that borders war stricken Afghanistan. The operation led to significant drop in acts of terrorism in the country.
A large number of troops were deployed for Pakistan Super League Final and later a series between the World XI and Pakistan this month.
