Ex-Windies captain Daren Sammy recieves award from Pakistan

FORMER West Indies cricket captain Daren Sammy has been bestowed with the Sitara-I-Pakistan, the country’s third-highest civilian award, for his part in bringing back international cricket to Pakistan.

Sammy received the award last Monday and tweeted photographs of the ceremony on his social media accounts. The announcement was first made on May 23.

Sammy, one of the very few foreign cricketers who played in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), the country’s T20 League, braved threats to his life and security as he played cricket in Pakistan, which had not had many foreign teams visiting it after the Sri Lanka cricket team was attacked in 2009. Sri Lanka and Australia teams are among the prominent teams that have visited the country this year.

The St Lucian Sammy, who is a two-time T20 World Cup winner with the West Indies, decided to play in the PSL in 2016 and represented Peshawar Zalmi till 2020.

“There it is, me collecting the Sitara-I-Pakistan award. Such a proud moment,” Sammy tweeted on Monday, with a picture of him receiving the award.

Sammy represented West Indies in all three formats of the game, scoring 1,323 runs and taking 84 wickets in 30 Tests, hitting a century and five half-centuries. In 126 ODIs, the 38-year-old Sammy scored 1,871 runs and claimed 81 wickets.

He made his Test and ODI debut in 2004 and last represented West Indies in a T20 match against Pakistan in September 2017.