Drama continues to unfold in Pakistan cricket as the ODI and T20 Captain Shahid Afridi has been asked to provide an explanation as to why he had criticised the selection of the team for the tour of UAE on a private television channel.The outspoken Afridi had given an interview to a leading Pakistani channel where he had claimed that he did not get the players he wanted for the series that is set to start in the last week of this month.
"The team was announced without my input and advice," Afridi had said. "I wanted 2-3 players other than Sohail Tanvir in the side." Afridi, currently in Lahore leading the Karachi Dolphins in the domestic Twenty20 Cup, said he would speak to Chairman Ijaz Butt about the squad. Butt is, however, currently in Dubai for an ICC meeting.
The candid confession did not go down well with the administrators of the game who claim that such comments were a breach of the PCB’s code of conduct. "He has been sent a letter today [Tuesday] telling him to avoid giving such interviews." Reports have surfaced in the media that the dashing all-rounder was served a show-cause notice which the board later clarified was only an explanatory letter.
It is not Afridi alone that was not happy with the selection of team. Even head coach and legendary fast bowler Waqar Younis has conveyed his reservations to the media about the selection process. The former captain is even irked at the appointment of Misbah-ul-Haq as captain for the two match test series.
The appointment was made after PCB ran out of options in the wake of the suspension of test captain Salman Butt for his alleged involvement in the spot-fixing scandal that hit the team on their tour of UK that ended last month.
"This has gotten particularly worse since Mohsin Khan became chief selector," claimed one source from the with-in the PCB, adding "Until Iqbal Qasim [predecessor to Mohsin] was there the chairman would never attend selection meetings. Now Mohsin doesn't consult with his own committee and only gets instructions from the chairman and essentially says yes to whatever the chairman has said.”
It was once again an eventful day for the PCB as the Chief Operating Officer of the Board Wasim Bari and outgoing team manager Yawar Saeed came in the firing line from the National Assembly’s standing committee on sports.
The committee was chaired by Iqbal Mohammad Ali, who is a member of the national assembly, and acts as a watchdog over sporting activities in the country.
However their own credibility is under question from day one as time and again new faces have emerged who have generally failed to deliver much. The committee has often made loud claims that they would rid the administration of incompetent and corrupt officials.
A day before the meeting, some members of the committee had claimed that they would tender their resignations if the Chief of the PCB is not sacked, yet in what was another comical depiction of the state of affairs all around the members who had threatened to quit did not even attend the session!
The committee understandably faced the wrath of the media as they were questioned time and again about the resignation throughout the session at a time when the committee was busy in grilling the PCB officials.
Another case of their incompetence was highlighted when the committee scheduled the meeting on Tuesday despite knowing that Ijaz Butt would not be available as he is in Dubai attending the ICC’s board meeting.
With the state of affairs as they are, one can conclude that while cricket administrators and parliamentarians make a mockery of the game in the country, one needs to thank them for providing rich entertainment with their antics.
