The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently announced three new tournaments to be held in their 2024-25 domestic season. The competitions – Champions One-Day Cup, Champions T20 Cup and Champions First-Class Cup – have been launched with an aim to “bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket”.
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Five teams will be taking part in the tournaments featuring 150 top domestic cricketers. However, Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad has announced he’ll not play in the champions cup claiming PCB is indulging in “favouritism”.
“With a heavy heart, I’ve decided not to play in the Domestic Cricket Champions Cup. The PCB’s favoritism, false promises, and injustice towards domestic players are unacceptable,” Shehzad wrote on X.
With a heavy heart, I’ve decided not to play in the Domestic Cricket Champions Cup. The PCB’s favoritism, false promises, and injustice towards domestic players are unacceptable. In a time when Pakistan is struggling with inflation, poverty, and massive electricity bills, the PCB…— Ahmad Shahzad (@iamAhmadshahzad) August 30, 2024
PCB has also named five mentors for each of the teams who will reportedly be paid PKR 5 million per month for their services. Shehzad termed the salary as “wastage” and alleged the board is rewarding “failed players” from the current team.
“In a time when Pakistan is struggling with inflation, poverty, and massive electricity bills, the PCB is wasting 5 million Rs on mentors for doing nothing and rewarding failed players in the current team who brought Pakistan cricket to an All-time Low,” he wrote.
“It’s even more disrespectful that the PCB claims they don’t have ‘instruments for surgery’ which is a huge disrespect for domestic players. As a Pakistani and true cricket lover, I cannot support a system that has no value for merit. I refuse to be a part of this failed setup,” he added.
Later, he posted a short video in which he further claimed that PCB is looking for people who can take the blame for the team’s failure.
“The state of Pakistan cricket team is such that PCB wanted names who can take the blame for the board. The lower the level of Pakistan team, the higher the salary they fork out for new staff. Another thing to be noticed is that though they have a coaching staff, they’re like maids, no disrespect, who need to be constantly supervised,” he said.
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