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Moin slams PCB for not ensuring foreigners’ participation

By Our Correspondent
March 17, 2018

SHARJAH: Quetta Gladiators’ coach Moin Khan has taken a swipe at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) over its inability to ensure participation of foreign players in the Pakistan leg of the PSL.

Moin, a former Pakistan Test captain, told reporters in Sharjah that the PCB should only include those foreign players in the player draft who are ready to play in Pakistan.

“I blame the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for this sad situation. I know the board will not like my comments. However, in future, only those overseas players should be included in the player draft, who commit to also play in Pakistan, if required by their franchises,” Moin said. As the T20 league gets ready to move to Lahore and Karachi for the playoffs and final, there are reports that many of the PSL’s foreign players are unwilling to make the trip to Pakistan.

Moin’s Quetta is bound to be among the worst affected teams as they rely on their foreign players including the star duo of Kevin Pietersen and Shane Watson. Moin commented that the foreign players who are refusing to play in Pakistan cannot be seen as supportive of Pakistan cricket. “The franchises pay them well to play in the PSL. However, when they refuse to travel to Pakistan, it upsets the balance of the concerned franchises, and also deprives our people of seeing competitive cricket,” he said.

Meanwhile Sarfraz Ahmed came across as a worried man on Thursday night. Hoping to finally lead Quetta Gladiators to the HBL Pakistan Super League (PSL) title, Sarfraz is fretting over the prospects of playing in the eliminators in Lahore next week without his key foreign players. “There is certainly this fear that some of our foreign players might not go to Lahore,” Sarfraz said after his team lost its last league game against Islamabad United in Sharjah. Sarfraz said that while Kevin Pietersen has already refused to make the trip to Pakistan other foreign players including Australia’s Shane Watson, one of the highest run-getters of PSL 3, are also reluctant to make a commitment. “It’s certainly a concern for us,” said Sarfraz, who saw his team crash to a big defeat in the PSL final in Lahore last year. A depleted Quetta team, whose foreign players refused to travel to Pakistan, proved no match for a full-strength Peshawar Zalmi side in last year’s finale at the Gaddafi Stadium. Things could be as bad for Quetta if they fail to finish among the top-two. However, Sarfraz put up abrave face and said that his team, which ended as losing finalists in the first two PSL editions, will give its best to win the title this time.

Speaking about Thursday night’s defeat, Sarfraz said that his team was 20-30 runs short.He said that the decision to bat first was taken with the belief that Quetta had the firepower to post a big total. But he lamented that the top order flopped and the team could finally just manage 147 which wasn’t a big enough total on the Sharjah wicket.

Agencies add: In 2017, in March, after the PSL final was held in Lahore, all the foreign players, including Kevin Pietersen, Rilee Rouwsee, Luke Wright, appearing for Quetta in the league matches, in UAE, refused to travel to Pakistan, citing security concerns.Their absence upset the Quetta team balance and gave a clear edge to its final opponents, Peshawar Zalmi, whose foreign stars played in Lahore.