PCB Makes Plea for Fans to Attend PAK VS NZ Test Match

New Zealand and Pakistan will be having their second test match on January 2 at the National Bank Cricket Arena. It’s reported that Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has pleaded with the fans to visit the arena.

The appeal was a result of the players being greeted with empty seats on the first three days of the second test match between the two sides. The plea was posted on the board’s official Twitter page and had a caption encouraging fans to watch the game in the stadium and how it would be an exciting match.

This is not the first effort that the board made to appeal to fans. On Saturday, the PCB announced free entry for fans. They even said that fans can watch the match from even the premium seats at the National Stadium.

In a statement released by the board, they said, “The spectators are only required to bring either their original CNIC or B-form to enter the stadium and they will be able to watch the action free of cost from any of the premium (Imran Khan, Quaid, Wasim Akram, and Zaheer Abbas), first class (Asif Iqbal, Waqar Hassan, and Majid Khan) and general enclosures (Muhammad Brothers and Intikhab Alam)."

They also added some conditions that included the barring of eatables, drinks, glass/plastic bottles and flags except for the Pakistani flag and New Zealand flag.

According to sources, the PCB even approached schools and other educational institutions to get children and youngsters to watch the 2nd Test in Karachi.

The appeal failed and the problem of empty seats remained. It is also not recent as the issue of empty seats was reported during matches against Australia and England.

It does not help that Pakistan has been going through a lean patch in Tests at home. In their first Test against New Zealand, they ended in a draw as the pitch offered very little for the bowlers. Before this, the team lost as many as 4 Tests and was winless at home in 2022.

Aside from a less-than-exciting performance from Pakistan, there have been complaints about the stadium. Not only did fans have difficulty getting around the stadium, but they also struggled with strict security measures. Additionally, they had to deal with damaged infrastructure when getting to the playing arena.

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With the upcoming ODIs, which are also set to take place in Karachi too, PCB will be hoping that the fans turn up for the limited-overs Pakistan VS New Zealand contests, unlike the test matches.

So far, there are no reported responses from the fans. Especially since Pakistan is all but out of the race for the World Test Championship final.

The National Stadium in Karachi is the city’s fifth and Pakistan's 11th first-class ground. The inaugural first-class match was played at NSK between Pakistan and India on April 21-24, 1955. It was in 2000-2001 that Pakistan experienced a defeat in the stadium, and it was against England.

Another event that happened in the stadium was the first ODI against West Indies on November 21, 1980. The stadium also staged a quarter-final match in the 1996-97 World Cup.