In an exciting turn of events, legendary former Pakistan batsman, Zaheer Abbas landed in Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia, a country in Southern Africa, on an invitation of Zambia Cricket Union.
This correspondent contacted Abbas who was in Zambia till September the 3rd, to enquire about his visit to the landlocked country bordering with Zimbabwe, Namibia, Malawi etc.
“I visited Zambia after 1971, so it’s been over half a century. Surely excited and visited various sites apart from cricket grounds”, Zaheer Abbas said who was in Zambia along with his wife, on a two weeks trip.
“As far as the facilities are concerned, they are not up to the standard yet but yes the passion is there and they looked keen towards cricket”, Zaheer Abbas added
The “Asian Bradman” did touch upon Pakistan’s state in the latest Test match series against Bangladesh in Rawalpindi and expressed disappointment over Pakistan’s below-par show.
Zaheer Abbas also found his old English County mate in Yousaf Pathan, who is a former Zambia Cricketer too.
“I went into Golf afterwards and have been organising a prestigious tournament since 1983. We were lucky to have Zaheer so we invited him to be our Guest of Honour for this reputable event”, Yousaf Pathan told this correspondent
Zaheer Abbas, no doubt, Pathan said, was a big hit in Zambia due to his stature as a world class player as well as the former President of the International Cricket Council.
“During his stay in Zambia he had been on Safari in the world famous Luangwa Valley which he and his wife thoroughly enjoyed. We surely want to host him again in better health so that he can play in our Golf tournament too”, Pathan concluded
Other than Zaheer’s contemporary like Yousaf Pathan, Zambia’s Cricketers of relatively younger generations, too, are eager to extract a thing or two from the former Pakistan great.
Saidi Malama, a former Zambia Cricketer and now a qualified ICC coach, is very happy to see Zaheer Abbas amongst them.
He feels such visits, from high profile personalities, would have a great impact on Zambai Cricket.
“Zambai is a very fortunate country, where we receive a lot of international star cricketers such as, recently, we had welcomed Sri Lanka legend Sanath Jaysuria and India’s Munaf Patel etc” said Saidi Malama, who was picked up by the Africa Cricket Federation to send him to Pakistan for two months coaching course under late Bob Woolmer
Malama is hopeful that Zaheer Abbas’ visit would have a great impact on Zambia Cricket.
“Abbas visited cricket ground and witnessed games up close. He imparted some valuable tips to youngsters”, said Malama who has been a dedicated coach, managing his own academy, for long.
“If we have proper plans for the future, we could do better”, concluded Malama who started playing cricket at 9, and later has played at all levels