City Cricket Association (KCCA) secretary Professor Ijaz Farooqui, on Saturday, said that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) selection committee is deliberately neglecting the players of the city.
Farooqui was addressing the media at Karachi Press Club in the backdrop of an unconvincing protest against the selection committee as a number of neglected players did not turn up and in spite of KCCA’s call while those who were protesting were hardly recognised names.
“The National selection committee has been deliberately neglecting the deserving players of Karachi,” Farooqui said. “They have used different ways to overlook them and discard those already in the national team.”
He added that the present board has failed in to complete their duties, which is imminent from the ‘spot-fixing’ controversy and Zulqarnain Haider’s mysterious escape.
Farooqui added that Pakistan cricket is suffering because of the dictatorial rule of Ijaz Butt. “Our cricket has suffered because of one man’s dictatorship,” he said. “Once the dictatorship starts objectivity ends.”
The KCCA has been raising their voice for sometime against the continuous snub of Test wicketkeeper batsman Sarfraz Ahmed, Khurram Manzoor, Danish Kaneria, Faisal Iqbal, Mohammad Sami, Fawad Alam, Khalid Latif and Sohail Khan.
The officials particularly pointed out that Sarfraz Ahmed, Danish Kaneria and Khurram Manzoor in particular should have been in the Test squad. “Sarfraz did so well and we all were thinking that he will be automatically selected for the longer format but shockingly Mohammad Salamn was picked up,” Farooqui said.
Farooqui, who has been very vocal in his criticism of the PCB, was recently given a show-cause notice by the board.
However, he said he will not be deterred by such notices and will continue to fight for the rights of the players. “We will continue to raise our voices in order to provide justice to our players,” he said.
“We wrote letters to the PCB about our reservations over the selection but the board did not pay any attention on the issue, which has forced us to come out on roads and protest.”
The PCB took an undertaking form from all the stake holders in which it was clearly mentioned that they will not be allowed to speak against the board, which the KCCA members agreed to.
When Farooqui was questioned as to why he was not resigning before criticising the PCB, he said: “ I’m defying it.”
KCCA’s double standards
The KCCA has been depicting a double policy. While they have been blasting the selection committee, they earlier presented souvenir to chief selector Mohsin Hasan Khan.
And Farooqui, in an attempt to clarify that stand, replied: “ It was a ray of hope that justice would be provided but that didn’t turned out to be the case.”
The association has been speaking loud against the murder of the merit but murdered it themselves earlier, when they placed Pakistan’s Division-I best batsman Ramiz Raja Jr in reserves of Sindh’s Pentangular Cup team, while Mohammad Sami was not even included in the group of 20.
When asked why KCCA failed to provide justice to its own players, Farooqui turned the topic by saying that if the debate of injustice will start then there are many players, who would come under discussion.
The KCCA secretary also came under fire on his association’s policy over staging the
Executive Council meeting eight days after announcement of Test squad for West Indies, which had no significance.
Meanwhile, the protestors chanted ‘anti-Ijaz Butt’ slogans; at the same time chanting ‘pro-Bukhari’ slogans.
