Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Friday took a decisive step toward strengthening domestic sports and restored departmental sports formally across the country.

The news would be especially welcoming for thousands of cricketers who went jobless after the Pakistan Cricket Board abolished departmental cricket at the behest of former prime minister Imran Khan and they have to be forced to do petty jobs including driving and daily wages to meet both ends.

All the former cricketing greats and sportsmen since then were opposing the idea and were raising their voices for the restoration of departmental cricket as well as other sports to help sportsmen focus on their game while earning their livelihoods as well.

Their voices were heard when Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced some time ago to restore the departmental sports in a ceremony held in honour of medal-winning athletes of the Commonwealth Games and Islamic Solidarity Games at PM House.

Now, the federal government has also issued an official letter to restore departmental sports.

As per the report, the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Communication issued said official letter to resume sports operations in the departments.

The report said that former Prime Minister Imran Khan had stopped departmental sports and resultantly thousands of sportsmen across the country became unemployed.