Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to rename the enclosures of Quetta’s Bugti Stadium after modern-day cricketers who have served Pakistan.
The enclosures in the stadium will now be renamed after Sana Mir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Kiran Baluch, Mohammad Yousuf, Saeed Ajmal, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Khan and Shoaib Malik.
PCB decided to rename them in recognition and honour of their contributions and services to Pakistan cricket.
Bugti Stadium has been going through a recent facelift in order to be able to host international-level matches when the renovation is completed. It was one of the venues under consideration by the board for the upcoming season of the Pakistan Super League before PCB ultimately decided to stick with Lahore, Karachi, Multan and Rawalpindi.
Overview of members enshrined in Bugti Stadium:
Kiran Baluch
- Played three Tests and 40 ODIs from 1997 to 2004. Her 242 against the West Indies women at the National Stadium in March 2004 remains a world record to the day.
Misbah-ul-Haq
- Captained Pakistan in most Tests (56) and won 26, more than any other Pakistan Test captain.
- Led Pakistan to the number-one spot in the ICC Test Championship in 2016
- Member of the squad that won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in 2009
Mohammad Yousuf
- Holds the world record for most Test runs in a calendar year (1,788 runs in 11 Tests with nine centuries)
- Won ICC Test Cricketer of the Year award in 2007.
Saeed Ajmal
- Took 447 wickets in 212 international matches, including 178 in Tests, 184 in ODIs and 85 in T20Is.
- Member of the squad that won the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2009.
Sana Mir
- Captained Pakistani women in 137 of her 226 internationals.
- Reached no1 on ICC ODI bowlers rankings in October 2018.
- Named as captain of Wisden’s Women’s Team of the Decade.
- Member of the ICC Women’s Committee
Saqlain Mushtaq
- Former coach of the Pakistan cricket team.
- Took 208 Test and 288 ODI wickets in 49 Tests and 169 ODIs, respectively.
- He was one of Wisden Cricketers of the Year for 2000.
Shahid Afridi
- One of the most destructive batters in the history of cricket once held the record for the fastest 100 off 37 balls.
- Took a five-fer on his Test debut and followed up with a century against India in Chennai.
- In 524 international matches, he scored 11,196 runs and took 541 wickets.
- Member of the CC Men’s T20 World Cup 2009 winning squad.
- Former chief selector of the Pakistan Cricket team.
Shoaib Khan
- The only men’s cricketer from the Balochistan province to represent Pakistan.
- Played 65 first-class and 22 T20 matches, scoring 3,695 and 533 runs, respectively
Shoaib Malik
- Represented Pakistan in 35 Tests, 287 ODIs and 124 T20Is, accumulating 11,867 runs and taking 218 wickets.
- Captained Pakistan in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007.
- Member of the 2009 T20 World Cup winning squad.
Younis Khan
- PCB Hall of Famer.
- Featured in the third most Tests for Pakistan (118) in which he accumulated the most Test runs for Pakistan (10,099) and scored the most Test centuries (34).
- Played in four ICC Men’s Cricket World Cups from 2003-2015 and finished his 265-match ODI career with 7,249 runs with seven centuries.
- Captained Pakistan to their first world title in 17 years, lifting the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2009 trophy at Lord’s
