LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board deprived the national print and electronic media of its right to cover the PCB annual awards for 2016-17 by selling out its broadcasting rights to a private TV channel.

The function was held to honour the country’s leading players and officials and therefore deserved coverage by all media organistations in Pakistan. But the PCB, which is set to bear a financial loss of over a million rupees by organising the on-going Independence Cup in the name of projecting a soft-image of the country to the world, struck a major blow to the very image by not allowing access to the local media to the prestigious annual awards function.

The event also brought disappointment for the PCB whose invitations were turned down by former captains Shahid Afridi and Younis Khan.

Only Misbah-ul-Haq reached the venue to receive his award.

Afridi and Younis preferred to stay away from the big bash, losing out on a Rs. 10 million award each which they were supposed to receive in the event.

Agencies add: The media box erected at the Gaddafi Stadium by the PCB specially for the World XI games have become a ‘guest lounge’ for the friends and families of PCB officials. A number of journalists and media representatives complained of lack of working space in the media box occupied by dozens of unknown people who were later identified as guests and friends of the board officials.

Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017