Emirates T20: Shahid Afridi cheers on Peshawar Zalmi during rain-shortened tournament in Dubai

Alex Davies of Lancashire bats during the final of the Emirates Twenty20 tournament. The game was called off after roughly half an hour due to rain and lightning. Alex Atack for The National.

DUBAI // Shahid Afridi is a man on a mission. Earlier this week, he declared a war on drugs during a visit to Peshawar, promising authorities his Shahid Afridi Foundation will help Khyber Pakhtunkhwa residents cultivate saffron instead of poppy.

A few hours later, he was in Kohat, another city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and the Pakistan all-rounder donated a few millions for the construction of an orphanage there.

President of the Peshawar Zalmi Foundation, Afridi was in Dubai cheering on his young team at the Emirates Twenty20 tournament at the ICC Academy. Zalmi had a chance of reaching the final, but lost to the MCC World XI in a rain-curtailed match.

Rain had a say in the final as well, forcing MCC World XI and Lancashire Lightning to share the honours after persistent showers made play impossible.

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Afridi, however, was pleased with the opportunities his Zalmi players got in the tournament and has vowed to provide the youngsters of Peshawar and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa all the assistance they need in the pursuit of their cricketing dreams.

"We have not created the Peshawar Zalmi team to play just a month's cricket in the PSL and then sit at home," said Afridi, who played a starring role in Peshawar Zalmi's triumph in the Pakistan Super League this year. "Our work goes beyond the cricket field and we want to change the lives of the underprivileged in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

“After the security operations there, the situation is a lot better in the province, but there are few opportunities or facilities for the youngsters. They don’t even have proper kits or clothes to play cricket. We are trying to provide that to them.

“The Shahid Afridi Foundation works in the health and education sector, but the focus of the Peshawar Zalmi Foundation is towards sports. We want to provide facilities to people who don’t have it.”

Peshawar won the PSL title this season by defeating Quetta Gladiators in the final at a sold-out Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on March 5. It was the first high-profile cricket match in Pakistan since the terrorist attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lanka team to the same stadium in 2009.

Many fans of Pakistan cricket are hoping the successful staging of the PSL final at home will pave the way for the return of international cricket to the country, but Paul Collingwood, the captain of English county Durham, believes it is too soon to talk about that.

“We want to take the game of cricket around the world, to as many places as possible,” said Collingwood, who is also part of the England one-day coaching team. “But security is obviously a huge concern for not just players, but media as well and we have to take the advice of the security officer to see if it is safe to go to places.

“At the moment, Pakistan isn’t the safest to travel there. But hopefully in the future, things will change and hopefully we’ll get back there and play cricket.”

FRIDAY’S SCORES

Final

• Lancashire Lightning vs MCC World XI – Match abandoned due to rain

Group matches

• MCC World XI beat Durham Jets by six wickets

Durham Jets 89 for 5 in 10 overs (Jack Burnham 34; Ryan Higgins 2-20) v MCC World XI 90 for 4 in 8.4 overs (Ben Duckett 34, Ben Cox not out 29; Gavin Main 2-14)

• Lancashire Lightning beat Lahore Qalandars by 16 runs

Lancashire Lightning 90 for 6 in 10 overs (Karl Brown 28; Raza Ali Dar 2-22) v Lahore Qalandars 74 for 4 in 10 overs (Awais Zia 23)

• MCC World XI beat Peshawar Zalmi by 7 wickets (Duckworth-Lewis)

Peshawar Zalmi 133 for 8 in 20 overs (Musadiq Ahmed 29; Craig Overton 3-35, Jack Leach 2-16) vs MCC World XI 69 for 3 in 9 overs (Ben Duckett 25, Ryan Higgins not out 21)

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