The players participating in the ongoing Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 have blasted the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over a meagre daily allowance which has forced them to fulfill their daily needs from their own pockets.
All the teams participating in the event are being boarded at Serena Hotel in Faisalabad, which is very expensive, and the players are not impressed by PCB’s planning as they are being paid just Rs 750 daily.
“We can’t even afford proper refreshment from the daily allowance we are getting because if we order tea twice a day, it costs us Rs 700-800. Having lunch or dinner is out of question,” a Multan Tigers player told ‘The News’.
Meanwhile, another added that although the board has provided the players with a good stay, it counts for nothing because players cannot eat properly.
“I am not impressed by the poor planning of the PCB. They are terrible when it comes to boost our domestic cricket because they do not have any sort of vision on how to improve our domestic structure to attract top players of the country. Who would pay Rs 250 for a bottle of mineral water?” he said.
The complaints don’t end there as players are also paying more than they are getting for their laundry. Several players told ‘The News’ that they had given their clothes to the laundry and that cost them Rs 1000.
Top stars like Shahid Afridi, Abdul Razzaq, Saeed Ajmal, Umar Gul, Abdur Razzaq decided against playing in the T20 tournament and according to some players, their decision was right as the PCB is not good enough to facilitate them.
“I think people like Afridi, Razzaq and Ajmal did right by deciding to play in England because their allowance for a single day would be three times of what we will earn after playing the whole tournament,” a player of the Karachi Dolphins said.
The PCB has thought about introducing a top T20 league like the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL). PCB Chairman Ijaz Butt recently said that they are waiting to have the right expertise before which they will move forward with the league in which international players will also participate.
But the players and members of the team management rejected such plans as ridiculous.
“It is a joke that the PCB will introduce a lucrative league and international players would take part in it. One cannot see that happening in near future because the board has failed to satisfy its own domestic players while being unable to attract their centrally-contracted players in what is the biggest tournament of the country which is being beamed throughout the world,” said a player.
When ‘The News’ tried to contact Director Domestic Cricket Sultan Rana and Manager Umpires and Referees Shafiq Ahmed Papa over the matter, they did not receive the call.
Meanwhile, another senior player hit out at Dolphins’ sponsor Chawla Aluminum as they haven’t received even a single penny from them.
“The sponsors’ names are associated with us without any reason as they have not given a single penny to the players. The sponsors should understand their responsibility. They are more interested in their own publicity instead of facilitating the players of their team,” he said.
