Pakistan celebrated the return of international cricket with a thumping 33-run win to clinch the final Twenty20 match and the series against a World XI team at Lahore's Qadhafi stadium Friday. The hosting of the short series is a major step towards convincing international teams to begin touring Pakistan again, with Sri Lanka already due to play a Twenty20 match in Lahore on October 29.

Foreign teams have refused to tour Pakistan since a militant attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore in March 2009. Under Sarfraz Ahmed, Pakistan team outplayed the World XI - with cricketers from seven countries - in Friday's decider to match the important occasion by claiming the series 2-1. Pakistan had won the first match by 20 runs on Tuesday before World XI levelled the series with a seven-wicket victory in the second on Wednesday.

World XI captain Faf du Plessis hailed the series as a big step and success. "This has been a huge success," said du Plessis. "We wanted to come here and play a small part in cricket coming back to Pakistan. Thank everyone for the opportunity for coming here. Pakistan had piled up 183-4 after they were sent into bat by World Xi skipper Faf du Plessis. Pakistan's innings was built around opener Ahmed Shehzad's 55-ball 89 and a 31-ball 48 by Babar Zaman. Pakistan hopes the successful staging of this series will help them host Sri Lanka for a Twenty20 international on October 29, at the end of their full series in the United Arab Emirates. A month later they are also likely to host the West Indies for three Twenty20 matches.

Scoreboard

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Pakistan

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F. Zaman run out                       27

A. Shehzad run out                     89

B. Azam c du Plessis b Perera          48

S. Malik not out                       17

I. Wasim c du Plessis b Perera          0

Sarfraz Ahmed not out                   0

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Extras: (w2)                            2

Total: (for four wickets; 20 overs)   183

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Did not bat: Mohammad Nawaz, Shadab Khan, Hasan Ali, Usman Shinwari, Rumman Raees

Fall of wickets: 1-61 (Zaman), 2-163 (Shehzad), 3-175 (Azam), 4-182 (Wasim)

Bowling: Badreer 3-0-28-0, Morkel 4-0-42-0, Cutting 2-0-26-0 (1w), Perera 4-0-37-2 (1w), Sammy 4-0-24-0, Tahir 3-0-26-0.

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World XI

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T. Iqbal b U. Shinwari                 14

Hashim Amla run out                    21

B. Cutting b H. Ali                     5

F. du Plessis run out                  13

G. Bailey b I. Wasim                    3

D. Miller c B. Azam b H. Ali           32

T. Perera c B. Azam b R. Raees         32

D. Sammy not out                       24

M. Morkel run out                       1

S. Badree not out                       0

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Extras: (lb1, w4)                       5

Total: (for 8 wkts; 20 overs)         150

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Did not bat: Imran Tahir

Fall of wickets: 1-15 (Iqbal), 2-41 (Cutting), 3-41 (Amla), 4-53 (Bailey), 5-67 (du Plessis) 6-112(Perera), 7-137 (Miller), 8-139 (Morkel)

Bowling: Imad 4-0-34-1 (3w), Shinwari 4-0-26-1 (1w), Ali 4-0-28-2, Raees 4-1-20-1, Nawaz 1-0-7-0, Shadab 3-0-34-0

Toss: World XI

Result: Pakistan win by 33 runs

Umpires: Ahsan Raza (PAK) and Shozab Raza (PAK)

Tv umpire: Ahmed Shahab (PAK)

ICC match referee: Richie Richardson (WI).

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2017