Former cricketer and chief selector of the Pakistan Cricket Board Aamer Sohail was recently seen criticising Sarfaraz Ahmad on TV for allegedly refusing to dedicate Pakistan's win against Sri Lanka to Javed Miandad, which came on the cricketing legend's birthday.
During a post-match analysis after the Pak-Sri Lanka showdown, Sohail spewed vitriol against Ahmad, saying that the new skipper has "nothing to be smug about; he just became captain."
"If you do something wrong, we will point it out to you; if you do something right, we will tell you that too; and if you do something wrong in an attempt to do something right, we will point that out to you as well," Sohail said, apparently in defence of retired cricketers' frequent commentary on the Pakistan side's recent performances.
He added that if the show's host were to ask him who won the match for Sarfaraz, his answer would be: "prayers and God; as I cannot name the facilitators of those prayers."
"You [Sarfaraz] have done nothing special, this match was won for you, we all know how things work," Sohail said.
Once the clip of Sohail's diatribe went viral on TV and social media, there was considerable backlash about his comments. The 'facilitators' statement in particular was widely perceived as an accusation of foul play in the win.
In response to the anger, Sohail decided to 'clarify' his position on Samaa TV, saying: "My comments were made after I heard reports of Sarfaraz's refusal to dedicate his performance against Sri Lanka to Miandad and him saying that Miandad criticises the team too much."
"The other thing I said was that the facilitators of the win cannot be named; however I said nothing about match-fixing or any other foul play — my statement was misunderstood," Sohail said.
If Sarfaraz Ahmad actually made those comments about Miandad could not be verified.
