The 2017 Independence Cup was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

tournament that took place in

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

, Pakistan. It was contested between a

World XI The World XI, also known as the FIFA World Stars, is an association football scratch team consisting of players from various countries. The World XI play one-off games against clubs, national teams, collectives of continental teams. The official ...

team and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

across three

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

(T20I) matches. Pakistan won the series 2–1. South Africa's

Faf du Plessis François "Faf" du Plessis ( ; born 13 July 1984) is a South African professional cricketer and former captain of the South Africa national cricket team. He is considered one of the greatest fielders of all time and among the best all-format ...

captained the World XI team, with

Sarfaraz Ahmed Sarfaraz Ahmed (; born 22 May 1987) is a Pakistani former cricketer who played for the Pakistani national cricket team between 2007 and 2023. He captained the Pakistan side in all formats from 2016 to 2019 and under his captaincy, Pakistan won ...

leading Pakistan. Ten of the players in the Pakistan squad had not previously played in an international match at home. The World XI side arrived in Lahore a day before the first fixture under high security. The cup was named in commemoration of Pakistan's 70th year of

independence Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state, in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the status of ...

. The

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

(ICC) appointed

Richie Richardson Sir Richard Benjamin Richardson, KCN GCM (born 12 January 1962) is a former West Indies international cricketer and a former captain of the West Indian cricket team. He was a flamboyant batsman and superb player of fast bowling. He was named ...

as the match referee for the fixtures, the first time the ICC has sent an official to oversee cricket matches in Pakistan since 2009.

Aleem Dar Aleem Dar PP ( Punjabi, ; born 6 June 1968) is a Pakistani cricket umpire and former first-class cricketer. He is a former member of the Elite Panel of ICC Umpires. Dar won the David Shepherd Trophy three years in a row from 2009 to 2011, aft ...

, Ahsan Raza, Ahmed Shahab and Shozab Raza were appointed as the on-field umpires. The

Pakistan Cricket Board The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), formerly known as Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP), is a sports governing body for cricket in Pakistan responsible for controlling and organising all tours and matches undertaken by the Pakistan ...

(PCB) introduced the #CricketKiHalalala

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag operator that is prefaced by the hash symbol, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services–especially Twitter and Tumblr–as a form of user-generated tagging that enable ...

for the series. The PCB spent an estimated $3 million to host the three matches, with players on the World XI team being paid approximately $100,000 each. The ICC contributed more than $1 million towards security costs. While attendance for the first two matches were as high as 90%, this was down on the crowd numbers for the final of the 2017 Pakistan Super League. Higher ticket pricing was to blame for the drop in attendance, with some tickets being given to local schools as a result. The ICC and PCB looked at the possibility for further World XI tours to Pakistan in the next two years, with the priority for more Full Member sides to tour. Following the conclusion of the series, Faf du Plessis said how much it meant for the people of Pakistan and that it hopefully will bring cricket back to the country. Sarfraz Ahmed said that he was thankful to the World XI team and that "I expect these players to return back to Pakistan with full squads to play a full

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film) ...

series". The ICC congratulated Pakistan for hosting the tournament, with the aim to get bilateral international cricket returning to Pakistan. The following month, the

Sri Lanka cricket team The Sri Lanka men's national cricket team, (; ) nicknamed The Lions, represents Sri Lanka in men's international cricket. It is a full Member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) with Test, One-Day International (ODI) and T20 Internat ...

played a T20I in Lahore against Pakistan.

Squads

T20I series

1st T20I

2nd T20I

3rd T20I

References

External links

Series home at ESPN Cricinfo
{{DEFAULTSORT:2017 Independence Cup 2017 in Pakistani cricket International cricket competitions in 2017 Multi-national cricket tours of Pakistan September 2017 sports events in Pakistan