Before the ICC World Cup 2019 officially started, all the 10 teams’ captains met Queen Elizabeth and Prince Harry at Buckingham Palace on 29 May at the opening ceremony in London.
All the captains were dressed in formal attire. In fact, nine out of the 10 men leading their teams were dressed in suits, but Pakistan skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed chose to be different – he wore his national outfit, a salwar kameez, along with the team blazer.
There were many on Twitter who appreciated Sarfaraz for upholding his country’s culture.
Pakistani fans were so impressed by Ahmed that some even said, ‘Sarfaraz may or may not win the World Cup, but he has definitely won our hearts’.
Here are some of the reactions:
And as usual, as with anything on the internet, there were detractors.
Tarek Fatah, a Canadian journalist of Pakistani origin, wasn’t so impressed:
He went on to say that he was surprised Sarfaraz didn’t come out in a ‘Lungi-Banyan-Topi costume’.
But many more came out in support of Sarfaraz after Fatah’s tweet.
When Sarfaraz was asked about it, he said he was proud of wearing his national dress.
“I was proud that I was wearing our national dress, while all other captains were dressed in suits.”Sarfaraz Ahmed
Pakistan is all set to to start their World Cup campaign against the West Indies on 31 May at Trent Bridge.
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