KARACHI, March 17: The training camp for next month’s Sharjah Cup is likely to run into snags as at least Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to demand the release of its players for the final round matches in the National One-day Cricket Championship.
PIA’s official request will be sent Monday to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) who, in a bewildering decision, decided to organize a training camp at Lahore from March 21 in the midst of a premier competition.
Besides PIA, Habib Bank and National Bank were also contemplating writing to the PCB while KRL, Allied Bank and ADBP will decide after they are assured of a place in the second round.
The PCB has said it would allow the cricketers to continue representing their respective teams if the departments approached it for the players’ release.
The final round from which top two teams from each group will qualify for the semifinals will start March 27.
PIA are the worst affected departmental team as its nine players — Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik, Yousuf Youhana, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Fazle Akbar, Yasir Hameed and Faisal Iqbal — have been invited for a 10-day camp.
Five players each from Habib Bank, KRL and National Bank have been called while Allied Bank will miss the services of Rashid Latif, Usman Tariq and Rana Naveed-ul-Hasan. A player each from Sui Gas, ADBP and Pak PWD has been named in the 30 probables.
“As per PCB instructions, we submitted the names of 16 players. Now if nine leave to join the camp, where will we go? We don’t have players who can replace them,” a PIA spokesman said.
“We can replace the nine with the back-up boys, but they are neither playing nor they are mentally focused for tournament of such a magnitude,” he added.
The PCB are making a mockery of its premier competition in an effort to cover-up the lousy attitude of its selectors. The selectors, who don’t even visit the grounds to watch the players, will now see the boys in the camp before deciding which cricketers had the potential to represent Pakistan at the highest level.
It is an irony that PCB, instead of forcing its star players to play on the domestic circuit, are holding training camps and investing millions of rupees at a time when it has started an austerity drive after limited income following cancellation of the home international season in the aftermath of the Sept 11 terror attacks in the US.
The concept of holding training is only in this part of the world as countries like Australia, South Africa, England and even the West Indies prefer to see their players earn more match practice then waste time in the nets.