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HYDERABAD: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has put the upgradation of Niaz Stadium on backburner while a huge sum is being spent on development of Garhi Khuda Bux ground in Larkana district, Dawn learnt on Friday.
According to information, following a presidential directive the Garhi Khuda Bux stadium is being built at a huge cost while lot of money is also being spent on upgradation of cricket academies in Karachi and Multan.
However, no attention whatsoever is being paid to Hyderabad’s historic cricket ground, the Niaz Stadium. Recently, the PCB discussed a number of issues in its Governing Board meeting but not a single word about the development of Niaz Stadium was mentioned there.
A few months ago, the PCB had formed a two-member committee comprising former captain Javed Miandad and the Regional Cricket Association (RCA) Hyderabad chief Mir Haider Talpur for visiting the sites of pending projects in the Sindh city.
However, there has been no activity on the committee’s part during all this time.
It is ironic that while on the one hand, the PCB is claiming financial constraints due to absence of any international cricket activity in the country, it is spending a packet on the Garhi Khuda Bux stadium and other projects while ignoring Hyderabad grounds.
“Niaz Stadium is not even in the list of ongoing project of PCB while Multan, Garhi Khuda Bux and Karachi projects have been given top priority,” said RCA’s Mir Haider Talpur. “But we will try our level best to convince PCB to start its development work here.”
A few years ago, the Niaz Stadium was handed over to PCB by then district government Nazim, Kanwar Naveed Jamil through a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in order to ensure that ODIs and Tests matches are organised here.
Prior to that move, the ground’s outfield was used for every purpose other than cricket which included hosting of wedding ceremonies besides serving as a helipad during top officials’ visit.
One sincerely hopes that Niaz Stadium, where Pakistan enjoys an unbeaten record both in Tests as well as the ODIs, finally gets the attention of the current PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf who himself belongs to the Hyderabad district and appears keen on addressing the many neglected areas of the game in the country.
