Pakistani Umpire lauds Thisara Perera for his sportsman spirit

As the teams geared up for the national anthems before the final T20 International game of the three-match series at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Thisara Perera showed his compassionate side and he won the hearts of everyone watching specially Pakistani umpire Ahsan Raza.

As the Pakistani national anthem was being played, tears rolled down Umpire Ahsan Raza’s eyes and that’s when Thisara went up to him and consoled him. The 43-year-old umpire’s brother Ali Raza described the emotional moment that will be etched in their memory forever.

“Well my brother (Ahsan Raza) is true Pakistani patriot and when National Anthem was played he could not hide his emotions and tears started coming from his eyes because whole incident start moving in his eyes frame by frame,” Raza stated.

“When Thisara Perera saw tears in his eyes, he said while tapping his shoulders that I can understand your feelings and you are very brave man and all foreign players and officials are satisfied with the security Pakistan law enforcement agencies provided,” his brother was quoted as saying by PakObserver.

Meanwhile, umpire Ahsan Raza also lauded Perera for his gesture. “I rate Sri Lankan captain’s sportsman spirit very high and give 10/10 marks. My faith in Allah has strengthened more. Tears just came because same venue, same place and same teams are again going to face each other. In 2009 I was fourth umpire but this time, time has turned around and now I am officiating match between both opponents as one of the on-field umpires,” the umpire said.

He also described the incident in 2009 and described it as a miracle. “When fire ruptured my lungs and liver I recited kalma perhaps I may not be able to survive but miracle do happens and it strengthened my faith on Allah more,” Raza said talking about his survival after being shot.

Even the fans were really excited and all emotional as the Sri Lankan team played the T20I game at Lahore. The National Anthem of Sri Lanka was sung by a government employee Waqas Khan.