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| Diehard cricket fans hail PCB’s decision |
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Thursday, March 11, 2010
Khalid Iqbal
Rawalpindi
The diehard cricket fans of Rawalpindi Wednesday welcomed the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) decision of punishing the feuding cricket heroes, saying that the step will improve the overall dressing room environment of the national cricket team.
PCB clamped lifetime ‘ban’ on former skipper Younis Khan and batting maestro Mohammad Yousuf keeping in view their infighting, which resulted in bringing down the whole team. Their attitude has been termed to have a trickledown effect and a bad influence for the whole team. While former skipper Shoaib Malik and all-rounder Rana Navedul Hasan have been banned for one year each for spoiling the team environment and misbehaving with other team members. They have also been fined Rs2 million each.
Shahid Afridi, the hard hitting all-rounder along with wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal have been fined Rs3 million each while young batting sensation, Umar Akmal has been fined Rs2 million for his misconduct. Afridi was punished for the ball-biting incident in the Perth ODI against Australia, where he was captain. He has already been punished by the International Cricket Council (ICC), who immediately gave him a two-match ban. The Akmal brothers were fined for their misbehaviour in the aftermath of the Sydney Test; Kamran was dropped by the board, but insisted publicly he would be selected in the run-up to the third Test. Younger brother Umar was alleged to have feigned an injury to not play the Test in protest, though he did eventually play. Afridi and Akmal brothers’ behaviour will be under scrutiny for the next six months.
The punishment was clamped after recommendations of a six-man committee set up by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to probe the December-February Australia tour, in which Pakistan lost the Test series 3-0, the One-Day matches 5-0 and two Twenty20 matches 2-0.
The punishment, first of its kind in the cricketing history of Pakistan, was a hot topic of the city and people remained engaged on commenting on PCB decision and future of Pakistan cricket.
They expressed the hope that decision will definitely improve the overall image of Pakistan cricket, which was facing down the barrel for the last few years. They said that the whole nation avidly watches cricket matches, but the poor performance of Pakistani players during last couple of years disappointed them. They said that the main reason behind poor performance of Pakistani cricket team was internal rift among team members. However, some cricket fans feared the decision to have a negative effect on Pakistan cricket urging PCB to repeal its decision.
Muhammad Usman, a cricket fan appreciated PCB’s decision and termed it a historical verdict. “Other young players would perform better in the light of punishment secondly young players would get chance in showing their talent at the international arena,” he added.
Afshan Asif, a cricket fan said that PCB spends millions of rupees on players and nation wants best performance from them, but unfortunately they show lack of passion and commitment in playing for their nation and always remain indulged in player politics.
Another cricket fan Rana Jawad Ahmed said, “Our cricket team never showed seriousness in matches against Australia and New Zealand. It seemed that they were playing friendly matches against each other. Their performance was disgusting.”
Shakil Ahmed, a young cricketer condemned PCB decision against players, saying that PCB only tried to save its skin over the poor performance of the national side and made some senior players the scapegoat. “The action is taken against some senior players who have won laurels for Pakistan in the past. Younis Khan should not have been banned after all he led the national side to victory stand in T20 World Cup in England,” he added. He said that Pakistani cricket was already facing the brunt of conspiracies hatched by India and they would be happy over this development.
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ISSN 1563-9479 
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