From Stones To Selfies: Australian Super Fan Welcomed In Pakistan

When Australian cricket fan Luke Gillian last visited Pakistan in 1998, home supporters threw stones at him when he ventured out in public. These days everyone wants a selfie. Gillian is back in Pakistan with a small contingent of Australian fans on their first tour of the country in nearly a quarter of a century -- and has been blown away by the welcome they have received.

Australia for 24 years, along with many international teams, declined to tour Pakistan on security grounds.

The situation became worse after a fatal terror attack on the Sri Lanka team bus in Lahore in 2009, after which Pakistan had to play "home" games abroad for a decade, mostly in the United Arab Emirates.

But the cricket-mad nation is lapping up the current tour by the world's top-ranked Test team, which will see the three-Test series go to a decider in Lahore next week after draws in Rawalpindi and Karachi.

"It was perceived to be too dangerous to go outside," Gillian said of his visit on Australia's last tour in 1998.

"When I did get outside there were large groups of people walking in the streets and I had rocks thrown at me.

"And I went, 'Nah, I am just going to go back home, I don't need to put up with this'."

Nearly a quarter of a century later, attitudes have changed.

"I reckon, in Rawalpindi, 500 photographs were taken of me every day, easily," the 51-year-old from Victoria told AFP.

Piece of cake

"I have been given I don't know how many cups of tea, how many pieces of cake, bottles of Pepsi, water and just little incidentals people have given us as a 'thank you' -- free haircuts, free laundry."

Like most Australians, Gillian took to cricket as a child.

"You grow up with cricket in your blood," he said.

"You often hold a cricket bat or a