LAHORE: Going on defensive, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Thursday avoided reacting strongly against refusal of the Sialkot district administration to allow national U-19 teams playing in Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot.
The match, supposed to be played on Wednesday between Peshawar and a local district team at the Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot, was brought to a halt before it was started by the district administration without giving any reason.
It is to be noted that the match was scheduled to be held on Wednesday at the Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala, but a day earlier the district administration refused to give two teams access to the Gujranwala’s stadium.
Taking a swift decision, the PCB shifted the match from Gujranwala’s Jinnah stadium to Sialkot’s Jinnah Stadium. However, when the two teams reached Sialkot and were about to start the match they were again not allowed to play due to which the Peshawar team had to leave for their city without playing any match.
While talking to media over the issue in question, PCB director domestic Zakir Khan refrained from giving a strong reaction with regard to the row with the Sialkot district administration.
However, he clarified that the PCB, while taking immediate step after the incident, postponed the match in Sialkot and most probably it would now be held in Peshawar.
Zakir said that he hoped that such incidents would not create disturbance in holding the rest of the matches in Punjab in future.
He said the PCB had signed the Memorandum of Understanding with every district government which in turn gives the former the rights to use the stadium for holding matches of domestic cricket.
The PCB had also invested in the Jinnah Stadium and hence had the right to hold matches, he added.
Asked if the PCB had any plan to call back its ground staff from all cricket grounds of Punjab, Zakir said that it would be an extreme step and the PCB wanted to develop grounds, not to destroy them.
Though the Punjab government has decided to probe the incident no outcome has surfaced as yet.
Previously, another match of the same tournament was also disrupted in Gujranwala when helicopter of provincial minister Sardar Zulifqar Khosa landed in the stadium during the match.
It is pertinent to mention that tussle between the PCB and Punjab government has been aggravating as a result of which the game of cricket is at the losing end and therefore interest of hundreds of cricketers is at stake.
For the last one year, the Punjab government is also using its sports infrastructure as a weapon against the national sports federations by denying them holding national or international events.
The Palestine football team was to play two matches on the FIFA Day at the Punjab Stadium this year, but the Sports Board Punjab did not give any reply to the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) due to which Palestine team’s tour to Pakistan had to be cancelled.
In another such incident, reflecting a tussle between the PCB and the provincial government, the latter demolished a boundary wall being built at the main gate of the Gaddafi Stadium in order to provide security to foreign teams.
The tussle seems to be a political one with the PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf having links to the ruling Pakistan Peoples Party, which is at loggerheads with Shahbaz Sharif-led Punjab government.
