Pakistan-India cricketers ready to 'Bowl Out Polio'

UNITED NATIONS: The Indian and Pakistani cricket teams, which will clash here in the third and final one-day international tomorrow, have, however, united for a common goal, to defeat polio.
Pakistani cricketers Younus Khan and Imran Farhat administered polio drops to children and joined the appeal to "Bowl Out Polio".

"We need to ensure a world free of polio paralysis for children. We need to win against polio, to Bowl Out Polio,” they said.

The players appealed to parents and polio workers to ensure that all children up to the age of five years are protected against polio, with two drops of oral polio vaccine in every round, so that polio is eradicated at the earliest.

As a symbol of their commitment to the cause, India and Pakistan teams will wear ribbons with "Bowl Out Polio" when they play the match tomorrow. The electronic periphery boards at the Ferozshah Kotla ground will flash the message of “Bowl Out Polio”, a press release from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.

Joining the teams to appeal for polio eradication will be about one hundred children in the stands wearing yellow jackets with polio messages. The ‘4s’ and ‘6s’ cards waved by the crowds will also read “Bowl Out Polio”.

The Board of Cricket Control in India and the Pakistan Cricket Board have extended full support to the polio eradication messages at the match, the release said.

While Pakistan is among the remaining three countries in the world still fighting the disease, India’s battle against polio will continue until polio is eradicated globally.