Former West Indies captain Darren Sammy is to become an honorary citizen of Pakistan and will also receive the country’s highest civilian award, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced, according to CWI.
In a post on Twitter, the PCB said Pakistan’s President Arif Alvi will confer the Nishan-e-Pakistan award on the 36-year-old St Lucian on March 23, for his “invaluable contribution to cricket” in the South Asian nation.
Sammy will be the first cricketer to receive the honour. He is the only captain to lift the ICC T20 World Cup on two occasions – when he led West Indies to global supremacy over Sri Lanka in 2012 and against England in 2016. The power-hitting allrounder is currently in Pakistan participating in the Pakistan Super League as captain of the Peshawar Zalmi which he has represented from the inception of the tournament. He stated that whatever he did for Pakistan was not for any personal gain.
In a message to his over two million followers on social media he said: “My love for Pakistan is natural, my contribution to this country is pure. I don’t need a passport to show my love for this country. All the players who have supported this step have contributed to where we are today. It is good that it has been recognized, but I didn’t do it for myself it is for my affection with the people and for the love I get from here.”
