HYDERABAD: The Regional Cricket Association (RCA) Hyderabad which met here on Saturday under the chairmanship of Mir Suleman Talpur has demanded an inquiry against Hyderabad Region’s head coach Iqbal Imam who faces charges of nepotism and match-fixing.

The meeting which was attended by Maqsood Brohi, Abdul Hussain Shah, Zulfiqar Bhatti, Jan Mohammad Wassan, Wahid Hussain Pahlwani, Abdul Hameed Pirzada among others demanded the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) order an inquiry into Hyderabad Region head coach Iqbal’s impropriety so that all those involved in corrupt practices could be exposed and responsibility fixed.

The meeting discussed upcoming cricket season and performance of the RCA in addition to reviewing poor performance and defeat of the RCA in Quaid-i-Azam Trophy which led to relegation of Hyderabad in grade-II last season.

According to RCA sources three guest players, including two pacers and a batsman, were wrongly accommodated which led to a disastrous performance by the team.

RCA players like fast bowler Asif Mehmood and others were deliberately ignored, they added while stating that head coach and skipper Azeem Ghuman didn’t pay attention to team selection due to which the RCA ended up in relegation to grade-II.

On the other hand, RCA president Mir Suleman Talpur said: “We seriously doubt the role played by Hyderabad skipper Ghuman and head coach Iqbal and thus demand an inquiry into the whole situation so that all those involved can be exposed.”

He said that Hyderabad lost two matches in Islamabad and Multan “which we feel could have been easily won.”

He said that Hyderabad Region has had other complaints against the PCB too. “We qualified for the super eight last season but the PCB changed criteria for the recently closed season under which teams playing grade-I have to be able to play super eight and since we are relegated we can’t play now,” he said.

He further said that the RCA doesn’t have proper representation in the PCB, adding that he had made correspondence with PCB but didn’t get any response.

On his part, Iqbal said he won’t comment on the RCA meeting. Talking to Dawn on phone, he said he had yet to receive anything in writing due to which he did not want to express his views. However, he did say that he reserved the right to take the matter to the court.

Published in Dawn November 6th, 2016