PCB questioning Bangladesh board’s integrity

Pakistan officials asks for copies of Dhaka court order.


Fawad Hussain April 23, 2012

KARACHI: After keeping its cool with a ‘mild’ statement after the postponement of the Bangladesh tour, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is not ruling out the possibility of half-hearted efforts from its counterparts leading to the turn of events that have effectively cancelled the two-match series.

The Dhaka High Court placed an injunction on the national team’s visit to Pakistan after a writ petition by a university teacher and a lawyer who stated security concerns as the reason for not touring the country. The turn of events followed the confirmation, made by the Bangladesh Cricket Board President Mustafa Kamal, that the team will tour Pakistan for a One-Day International and one Twenty20 at the end of this month.

It has been learnt that an ‘extremely’ unhappy PCB is following the case closely through its legal team and has obtained a copy of the petition where ‘loopholes’ prompted it to doubt the BCB’s role as it believes that it could have easily challenged the decision. The PCB, in a media statement yesterday, told one side of the story, asking the Bangladesh board ‘to submit the copy of the court order and copy of the appeal [if any] filed by the BCB against the stay order’.

The statement added, “After perusal of the writ by officials of the PCB assisted by legal adviser, prima facie the writ petition is devoid of merits and has been filed against public interest which will be detrimental to the game of cricket. The PCB is hopeful that the BCB will leave no stone unturned to get the stay order vacated.”

Doubts surround BCB’s true stance

On the other hand, several PCB officials doubt the deferral as a result of BCB’s self-designed campaign to cancel the tour.

“There are serious questions about the BCB’s role,” an official close to the matter told The Express Tribune. “There were many loopholes in the petition, including facts not told correctly to the court,” he said while referring to the petition which stated that the PCB failed to send a security report to the International Cricket Council (ICC) despite this not being the case. “The petition could have been easily defended by the BCB. The final order to postpone the tour for a month at an interim stage of the case also raises questions.

“The reason to ask for a copy of the appeal is to assess how badly does it want the tour to go ahead. At least by following the matter, we will know what kind of relations should be kept with the Bangladesh board in the future.”

He said the PCB will not hesitate in stopping players for the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL). The official added that the board might also consider its stance on supporting Kamal to the post of the ICC vice-presidency once things are cleared out.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 24th, 2012.

COMMENTS (27)

H chaudhry | 11 years ago | Reply

@zshams my friend it does not matter what and who prepare wickets!

abbas | 11 years ago | Reply

@ Z shams - Leisure time wishes were not for you but for the BD team who do not have much to do in upcoming days. Why not ask BCCI (ur real bosses) to provide a test series in India now. They did offer it when BCB was all set to visit to Pakistan and after that all the mess happened (as BCB found it financially and credentially more lucrative).

In your next comment I would look fwd to one single event as an example when PCB (in specific) or Pakistan (in general) insulted BCB / BD. Now don't get into 1971 mess as all of that was conspired by India (its a known fact claimed by Indra Gandhi you can google it) and faults on both sides (specially Miltary leaders of that time in West Pakistan).

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ