Lovepreet Singh had dropped off passengers in Brisbane’s Westend hotel when someone called him out in Punjabi and asked for a good Punjabi restaurant option for dinner.
Mr Singh instantly recognized him as Pakistani medium-pacer Shaheen Afridi, who with other members of the visiting cricket team was longing to have a 'hot Punjabi dinner'.
Shaheen was accompanied by Naseem Shah, Mohammad Musa, Yasir Shah and Imran khan.
‘I drove them to Punjabi Rasoi restaurant and declined to take the fare from them. I wanted to pay my respect to the players, especially in light of the opening of Kartarpur corridor’, Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi.
‘The players thanked me profusely and offered me to have dinner with them. I kind of hesitated and left them to enjoy their time. I called my brother Jaswinder Singh who asked me to go back again and join them’.
‘They were so pleased to see me back. I tried my best to pay for the dinner but they didn’t let me pay. All of them were down to earth, nice to talk to and very friendly,’ he added.
Mr Singh said that they mainly talked about both sides of Punjab and the first thing the Pakistani cricketers said was ‘Hun tan raste khul gaye ne, kadi aayo Pakistan vi’ (now that the pathways have been opened, do come to Pakistan sometime.)
'All of the players were down to earth, very friendly and warm', Lovepreet Singh. Source: Lovepreet
Mr Singh told SBS Punjabi, ‘I belong to a village near Raja Sansi airport in Amritsar district which is very close to Kartarpur Corridor. I naturally have special feelings for the opening of this corridor.’
‘With Pakistani cricketers' warm invitation, I am looking forward to visiting Kartarpur Sahib when I visit India next time and will try to meet the players in Pakistan as well’.
Jaswinder Singh, brother of Lovepreet, also had a brief chat with the players after their dinner and expressed his gratitude for their love and affection.
