Younis to meet Bestway Group chairman to secure bank’s cricket team

KARACHI: Pakistan’s batting great Younis Khan will go to the UK after Eid-ul-Fitr to meet the chairman of Bestway Group Sir Anwar Pervez to resolve the issue of UBL’s cricket team’s closure, ‘The News’ learnt on Sunday.

Bestway is a Britain-based multi-national conglomerate, having businesses in the UK and Pakistan. In Pakistan it is a major shareholder of UBL.

Younis told ‘The News’ that he would go to UK as soon as possible to meet Anwar. Younis was appointed captain of UBL team and the bank’s brand ambassador.

He first met State Bank of Pakistan Governor Tariq Bajwa to seek his help to rescue the team, sources said. The SBP governor assured Younis that the matter would be taken seriously and he would inquire why the team was being closed.

Bajwa assured him that injustice to the players would not be tolerated.However, there has been no action in this regard from the central bank. Thus, Younis decided to go to UK to meet the chairman of Bestway Group.

It is pertinent to mention here that a successful cricket academy is being run by UBL where around 800 children get coaching at minimal cost. But the closure of the team has dampened their spirits. “What message are they giving to these young cricketers? When the bank is closing its own team, what is their future,” a UBL cricketer said.

Younis had left HBL where he had been serving for 18 years to join UBL, which had promised him that he would be tasked with building a cricket nursery following the model of a top England academy.

As per details, the bank sponsored PCB events, including PSL and the T10 in the UAE, due to which its expenditure rose. The bank failed to market its own sports complex situated in the heart of the city at Rashid Minhas Road. The complex has facilities of lawn tennis, hockey, cricket and other sports.

Sponsoring an event is one thing and running a cricket team quite another, said a source. UBL performed brilliantly in the recent one-day events and first class cricket. A group of Pakistan’s first class cricketers said that constructing tall buildings is no success.UBL is a big name in Pakistan sports history and has produced many world class cricketers. It built its own sports complex more than two decades ago.