Pakistan vs Sri Lanka: ‘When your players play at home...’ - Shoaib Akhtar hails return of Test cricket to Pakistan

Pak vs SL: Tight security ringed Rawalpindi cricket stadium on Wednesday as Pakistan hosted their first Test match since a deadly attack on Sri Lanka’s team ushered in a decade of sporting isolation.

Legendary fast-bowler Shoaib Akhtar hailed the return of Test cricket to the country after Pakistan hosted Sri Lanka in the first match of two-match series in Rawalpindi on Wednesday. Tight security ringed Rawalpindi cricket stadium on Wednesday as Pakistan hosted their first Test match since a deadly attack on Sri Lanka’s team ushered in a decade of sporting isolation.

Rawalpindi: Pakistani players stand for national anthem before the start of play. (AP)

Akhtar was quick to make a comment on the momentous occasion and he took to social media to say: “I welcome Test Cricket back to Pakistan. Specially, to my city Rawalpindi. When your players play at home, they become heroes, this is what inspires a young generation to take up a sport and idolize greatness.”

Despite being targeted in the 2009 guns-and-rocket assault, Sri Lanka have returned for two Tests in Rawalpindi and Karachi which Pakistan hope will help convince other teams to visit.

The absence of international cricket has been keenly felt in Pakistan, a hotbed of the game, with significant reputational damage and “substantial” financial losses, according to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Pakistan have been forced to play their home matches on neutral ground in the United Arab Emirates, meaning all of their team are taking part in their first Test on home soil.

International cricket began making inroads back into the country when Zimbabwe became the first team to play in Pakistan in 2015, paving the wave for a smattering of Twenty20 matches ever since.

But Test matches -- considered the pinnacle of international cricket -- have until now remained absent. The second Test is in Karachi from December 19.

((With agency inputs))