Gladiators’ owner wants PCB to be tough on players involved in fixing

KARACHI: Quetta Gladiators owner Nadeem Omar has said the PCB should take some bold decisions to avoid fixing in this year’s edition of Pakistan Super League (PSL).

In an interview with ‘The News’ he said that the players who were involved in corruption must face strict punishments so that the other player never even think of such a deed. He said that the PSL had given a new identity to Pakistan cricket and done the same which the IPL did for Indian cricket.

When asked about the current issues in the Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), Nadeem said that he did not know the reasons behind the issues but wanted them to be resolved to protect Karachi’s cricket.

He said that KCCA needed attention from the PCB.He said that there was immense talent in the city but it needed polishing.Nadeem said that over the years, grassroots level cricket had been demolished in the country.

He added that if he was asked to take over the responsibilities of KCCA, he would do that.He said that one of the reasons behind the debacle of the national team in Tests was the popularity of T20 format.

“Our players are more interested in the shortest format,” he stated.He added that the PCB should conduct more three- and four-day contests. Nadeem is well-known among the cricket community in Karachi and his Pakistan Cricket Club has been working for many years and has produced such players as Sarfraz Ahmed.

He said that he wanted to groom the players of Karachi who could represent the country.Nadeem said that his dream was to buy the team of Karachi but unfortunately he could not. The owner of Quetta Gladiators said that all the foreign players of their team had agreed to visit Pakistan if the team qualified for the knock-out stage of the PSL.

Nadeem said that they had made an agreement with all foreign players and all were willing to visit Pakistan.He added that Kevin Pietersen, who had not arrived last year, had shown inclination to visit Pakistan this time.Nadeem said that they were hoping to win the tournament this time.He said that their team lost the final last year as the foreign players refused to visit the country.