2009 terrorist attack survivor to officiate the Pakistan-Zimbabwe series

Pakistan will host an international series after six years

Over the last few days, both the Zimbabwean and the Pakistani Cricket boards released contrasting statements regarding the tour and finally it was decided now that the series would go ahead as planned. And now it has been revealed that one of the umpires for the series will be Mr.Ahsan Raza who incidentally survived the terrorist attack in 2009 which led to teams boycotting Pakistan.

The decision to appoint local umpires was taken after the ICC decided not to send its match officials to officiate this tour due to security concerns. Raza fought for his life for over a month after being hit by multiple bullets during the terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan team bus.

Aleem Dar, Shozab Raza, Ahmed Shahab and Khalid Mahmood would be officiating alongside Raza and Zimbabwean umpire Russell Tiffin. The ticket sales have already begun and Pakistan has beefed up its security measures by conducting a dress rehearsal. Despite this, some Zimbabwean cricketers are still nervous ahead of the first match.

Sitting in the business Lounge at Harare airport awaiting departure!#nervous#rightorwrongchoice

— Craig Ervine (@Craig_Ervine77) May 17, 2015

Boarding plane to Pakistan shorty nervy times!!hopefully all goes well

— Sean Williams (@sean14williams) May 17, 2015