Muhammad Babur
Lahore
Dutch cricket fans were disappointed over the cancellation of a representative Pakistan cricket team tour due to Covid19 in July this year. This was disclosed by Pakistan born Asim Khan in an exclusive talk to this scribe.
Asim, a former fast bowler who represented Netherlands in international cricket, said that Pakistani cricketers have huge following in the Netherlands and the people here were keen to watch Pakistani cricketers in action on their soil but the situation arose due to Covid19 forcing the tour to be canceled. They had bought match tickets but the cancelation of the tour was a big disappointment for them. He, however, hoped that things would improve soon and the Pakistan team will visit the Netherlands.
Asim who is on a family tour of Pakistan said Babar Azam, Shaheen Afridi and Mohammad Hafeez are very popular in Netherlands while upcoming Haider Ali has also won hearts of many because of wonderful fifty on debut. He recalled that former Test cricketers Imran Khan, Javed Miandad, Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were already heroes of Dutch.
Asim Khan was a part of the Netherlands team who participated in the 1996 cricket world cup he also served as a coach of Dutch team and member of the coaching staff of the Pakistan Super League team, Lahore Qalandar.
He is the first Pakistani cricketer to play international cricket for a European country, has represented Netherlands for 12 years and played 143 matches.Asim disclosed that cricket has become one of the major sports in Netherlands and their team has been performing well against the Test playing nations. The Netherlands has participated in 1996, 2003, 2007, and 2011 ICC Cricket World Cups. It also took part in the T20 World Cups in 2009, 2014, and 2016. The greatest moment for the Netherlands came in June 2009. Facing England at Lord’s in the opening match of WC T20, The Netherlands pulled a dramatic victory off the last ball. The chairperson of Koninklijke Nederlands Cricket Bond (KNCB) Betty Timmer and all other office bearers are working hard to make Netherlands a powerhouse of cricket in the region.
About Pakistan team’s performance in the recently concluded England tour Asim said Pakistan team should have won the first Test match which they were leading throughout but in the fourth innings lack of experience cost them the match.