PCB bans employees from TV commentary: source

A senior official says chairman Shaharyar Khan has now issued strict instructions on the matter

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has disallowed it employees from appearing as TV commentators after it received considerable criticism for allowing chief selector Haroon Rasheed and Selector Azhar Khan to commentate during the national super eight T20 tournament in Faisalabad, reported NDTV.

The board had to face further disapproval when they allowed National Cricket Academy coach Muhammad Akram to commentate in the Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan.

A senior official of the board quoted by NDTV said chairman Shaharyar Khan has now issued strict instructions that no former player on the PCB's payroll will commentate in a match as it represented a conflict of interest in many ways.

"The Board has realised it was a mistake to allow Haroon or even Akram to sit as commentators and this will not happen again," he said.

The official said in fact the Board was preparing a revised media policy also for its contracted players or members of the national team.

"In recent times a number of these players have come and sought permission from the Board to work for television channels during a series after first committing to the assignment," the official said.

The source further said that the main job of the contracted players and national team players is to focus on the game and permission would be forwarded only in special cases from now onwards.

Another reliable source in the PCB quoted by NDTV said that one of clause causing differences between the board and the players pertained to the media appearances which sprout handsome fees for the players.

Contracted players like Saeed Ajmal, Muhammad Hafeez, Azhar Ali and a few others all appeared on different channels for handsome fees during the World Cup as experts.