Army chief pays surprise visit to Pakistan team's dressing room in South Africa

Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, apart from being the top official of Pakistan army, is also an avid cricket fan like millions of others in the cricket-loving country.

General Bajwa, while on a private tour of South Africa, paid a surprise visit to Newlands where Pakistan played the fifth and final one-day international against the hosts.

The army chief surprised the national cricketers when he visited the team’s dressing room. The players were even more pleasantly taken aback when they found out the general knew quite a lot about cricket and past cricketers.

When he met the team’s assistant manager and former cricketer Mansoor Rana, General Bajwa mentioned Mansoor's late father and famous umpire Shakoor Rana. The army chief told him that he also knew about his uncle Sultan Rana who was a good cricketer and an exceptionally good fielder.

Team manager Talat Ali told Geo News over the telephone that he was informed that General Bajwa was at the stadium watching the match in the VIP box. He then went to meet him and invited the army chief to the dressing room to encourage the players, Ali said.

The manager further said that General Bajwa told the players that he used to play cricket as well and is still a big fan of the sport.