Miandad to visit China next month

Former Pakistan great Javed Miandad will tour China as a cricket ambassador next month, an official of the sports ministry said on Thursday.

Miandad believes China, which he will tour from March 9 to March 15, has the potential to be a cricket power.

"I have no doubt that they can excel in the field of cricket, like they do in other sports," he said.

Pakistan president Asif Ali Zardari, who is also patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board, appointed Miandad as cricket ambassador to China in December last year.

All this is an effort to improve the cricketing structure in China, a nation which hosted and fared well in last year’s Olympic Games.

Miandad, who played 124 Tests, scored a Pakistan record of 8,832 Test runs with 23 centuries.

He was an instrumental force behind Pakistan winning their only World Cup title in 1992. In that tournament he scored six half-centuries.

Pakistan’s youngest captain, Miandad, is often referred to as one of the greatest batsmen the country has ever produced. Since his retirement in 1996, he has coached the Pakistan national team twice.