Since the 2009 attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team had exiled Pakistan cricket, Lahore hosted the third high-profile international cricket event this week. The Independence Cup against the World XI was an overwhelming success in every possible way.

Every single international tour, regardless of its nature or duration, has come with the #CricketComesHome hashtag. That was the billing for the Zimbabwe tour in May 2015 and again in March this year with the PSL final.

But despite the Gaddafi Stadium being packed to the rafters during the Zimbabwe tour and the PSL final, the former wasn’t touted as a top international side and the latter had a couple of major international names.

World XI was always going to be bigger. It had representatives from seven international sides, was led by the South African captain, featured players who have captained Australia, England and the West Indies - two have led World T20 winning campaigns. The group also had two of the top five bowlers in the ICC T20 rankings.

And yet despite the likes of Faf Du Plessis, George Bailey, Paul Collingwood, Darren Sammy, Imran Tahir, Samuel Badree et al, some empty seats could be seen inside Gaddafi Stadium Lahore during the second T20 on Wednesday.

This couldn’t possibly have been owing to a lack of excitement. For, just like the Zimbabwe tour and the PSL final, Lahore has embraced cricket - and everything that comes with it.

The passion in the crowds could be seen as the queued up hours before the match was scheduled to start. Even in those queues crowds could be seen looking for tickets, but none were available.

And so the consensus seemed to be that all the T20s had been booked long before the start of the series and anyone looking for tickets was searching in vain. This seemed to be further substantiated by the lack of the traditional ticket booths outside the stadium where fans could purchase the remaining tickets.

PCB Chairman Najam Sethi has admitted that expensive tickets played their part in empty patches seen inside the Gaddafi Stadium. What further complicated the matter was reports 4-5 days before the start of the series that online tickets had run out, and so was the case with those given out to the banks.

The fact that there was unprecedented security, inadvertently causing unparalleled traffic blockades across the city didn’t help either. Neither did the fact that all three of the matches were scheduled during weekdays.

The security protocols couldn’t have been altered, neither perhaps the scheduling, since such a wide array of stars had to be accommodated. But traffic could’ve been streamlined days in advance, with proper awareness of the open routes divulged to the masses in a better way.

While price might’ve been a factor, it is hard to imagine Lahore - with a population of over 11 million people, where one would struggle to find a single empty seat even when international teams were touring twice a year - not filling 27,000 seats inside Gaddafi Stadium, after being deprived of world class cricket for almost a decade.

This especially rings true when one sees the overwhelming passion on social media, and the dejected faces outside Gaddafi Stadium of those who couldn’t find a ticket for the match.

It is more a case of management creases that need to be ironed out for future tours, which to the excitement of everyone look set to come thick and fast.

What we mustn’t forget that since Pakistan hasn’t been hosting cricket events since 2009, there was bound to be rustiness in managing them initially, especially when their profile is increasing.

Next month Sri Lanka will play at least one T20 in Lahore as part of its tour, the rest of which will be played in the UAE. In November, West Indies are scheduled to tour Pakistan for a three match T20 series in the city as well. Then there would be the third edition of the Pakistan Super League in the coming spring, with Karachi set to host at least four matches.

With the matches and tours being spread all over Pakistan, the task for the PCB, and everyone involved in city management, is only going to get bigger.

The millions of cricket fans in Pakistan would all want a piece of the action, and would be looking to the relevant authorities to ensure that they facilitate the route to world class cricket easier for them. If that is ensured, every single city in Pakistan can fill its stadium ten times over - if not more.