PCB stops players from attending events on scandal fears

LONDON: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has told the national team players to seek security clearance before attending any fundraisers, social gatherings and community events while they are touring England and especially in the middle of the matches.

The PCB took action after several fundraisers in London were announced selling tickets in the name of top Pakistani players who are part of the Test and one day squads. The PCB manager Intikhab Alam stopped players from attending a dinner on Wednesday night in West London which had published posters of leading players and sold tables to British Pakistani community members promising “meet and greet”.

Inzamamul Haq, Mushtaq Ahmed, Amir Sohail, Saeed Ajmal and some former cricketers attended the dinner but at least three players, including Msibahul Haq and Yasir Shah, who were on the marketing posters, didn’t show up at the event. A source in the PCB told this correspondent that Intikhab Alam told players in strictest terms that they were not allowed to attend the dinner and should rest and concentrate on the game instead of attending dinner parties.

The source told The News that the security management of the PCB told the players to steer clear of the dinner and anyone violating the security conduct will be punished. One of the organisers of the event told The News that the whole event was planned around Misbah but at the last minute the security management struck and didn’t allow him to go out of the hotel.

The PCB’s fears have risen after some controversial individuals were seen getting too close and personal with the players at the two dinner events attended by around half a dozen visiting players in Manchester. It is a possibility that some of these individuals, involved in the organisation of these events, might have ties with the match-fixing underworld and their modus operandi is to lure players into their schemes through “charity events, sponsorship deals and meet and greet events”.

The presence of individuals at those events gave rise to suspicions that there could be a repeat of the infamous spot-fixing case of 2010 which brought disrepute to Pakistani cricket after Salman Butt, Muhammad Amir and Muhammad Asif were caught being involved in criminal activities in association with their sporting agent Mazhar Majeed. 

This correspondent can exclusively reveal that an English media organisation has penetrated again into the Pakistani cricket team players through “social contacts” to lure Pakistani cricketers into financial scandals during the current tour of England so that a big story could be created. 

Shahid Afridi’s today’s (Saturday) charity called “Shahid Afridi Foundation” is organising a dinner night to raise funds for Afridi’s “projects” in Pakistan but the event has descended into controversy.

The marketing posters being circulated by the event promoters promise that Test captain Misbahul Haq, Sarfaraz Ahmed, Younis Khan, Yasir Shah, Muhammad Hafeez, Wahab Riaz, Shan Masood, Muhammad Amir, Ahmad Shahzad, Mushtaq Ahmad, Azhar Mahmood, Azhar Ali, Sohail Khan, Sohail Tanvir and Muhammad Rizwan will attend the event.

The poster asks those interested to pay £150 VIP and £75 for standard tickets to meet the players but at least six players named in the poster confirmed that they will not be attending the dinner and that the organisers added their names in the posters without their permission to sell tickets.

Following the controversy, the PCB manager Intikhab Alam said in a statement on Friday that none of the players, who are part of the Oval Test team against England, will be allowed to attend the “dinner party”.

Intikhab Alam said, “Only those players who are not playing in the match (Oval Test) will be allowed to attend the dinner”.

When asked questions about the off-field engagements of players while touring England, a spokesman for the PCB said that when on tours “the players do attend such events with the permission of the team management and players also get paid for such functions”.

However, the PCB spokesman clarified, “The team management does not permit participation of players in such events one day prior to a match or during the match. On most occasions, especially when all players are participating, the security manager accompanies them to oversee the security arrangements.”

One of the organisers of Shahid Afridi's dinner event said it was aware that the PCB has told players not to attend the dinner because the event on Saturday is happening in the middle of the match. He said the event was planned only after the players agreed to attend the event.

- Originally published in The News