Former skipper Zaheer Abbas has blamed the country's cricket board for making Pakistan a laughing stock before international fraternity by picking up a squad for now cancelled tour of Bangladesh even before the hosts cleared the fixture.
Former skipper Zaheer Abbas has blamed the country's cricket board for making Pakistan a laughing stock before international fraternity by picking up a squad for now cancelled tour of Bangladesh even before the hosts cleared the fixture.
Zaheer, known as the 'Asian Bradman' for his scoring feats, said he was amazed that before the tour was confirmed, the national selectors were allowed to announce the Pakistan squad.
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"We have become a joke in international cricket. When the tour was not confirmed by Bangladesh Cricket Board why the hurry in announcing the team?" he raised question.
The Bangladesh government didn't clear Pakistan team's tour due to security issues, although the Pakistan Cricket Board has said that the tour has not been cancelled but postponed and will take place later in the year.
The decision by Bangladesh government came as another blow to the Pakistan cricket, which has already been hit hard by many teams cancelling or postponing their tours to the strife-torn country after raising security concern.
The International Cricket Council also first postponed and then shifted the Champions Trophy from Pakistan to South Africa after some countries refused to send their teams because of the unstable security conditions there.
Zaheer said security conditions had already made things difficult for Pakistan cricket and the PCB officials, with their naive decisions had only worsened the situation. "It is a bad situation that today even a team like Bangladesh whom we supported to get Test status is refusing to host us," he added.
He said the reason for this was bad policies of the board and lack of planning to meet the situation. "It is true that we have former players and senior people in the board but unfortunately they have not come up to the expectations of the people," he stated.
Zaheer, who had also worked as chief selector and manager of the national team, said it was time the board wake up and start taking things seriously or else Pakistan cricket would become totally isolated. "No board is willing to support us now because of the PCB policies," he added.
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