Ramazan tournaments : PCB’s policy hurting organisers

Fans deprived of witnessing stars in local T20 tournaments.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) policy to bar national squad members from taking part in Ramazan tournaments has become a source of embarrassment for leading departmental teams while organisers have also been irked by the development.

Domestic cricket giants like NBP, HBL and PQA have suffered defeats at the hands of less experienced outfits in a T20 tournament as they were without key players. After national stars were unable to appear, the teams were filled with local players and staff cricket teams were brought in to fill the bench.

“We suffered because most of our players are a part of the World Twenty20, leaving us with hardly any firepower,” a leading departmental official told The Express Tribune. “The PCB is damaging their own cricket by stopping players from taking part in local events. On the other hand, it’s allowing them to take part in the Sri Lankan Premier League.”

He lamented that the PCB was facilitating a foreign event, which shows that they are ‘not at all’ interested in improving the state of the sport in Pakistan.

Sponsor issues hit  Ramazan events

Meanwhile, several organisers complained that they to face problems in attracting sponsors due to the absence of national starts from the tournaments.

Former Test cricketer Nadeem Khan, who is also organising an event, said spectators are not turning up and this was going to have a bad effect on the game’s following in the country.

“International cricket is not taking place in Pakistan already and thus the fans’ only chance to see their stars in action is to see them playing in local tournaments,” said Nadeem. “However, this hasn’t happened.”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2012.