PCB to take strong action against 'indisciplined, careless' players - Cricket Winner

A report in the ‘Jang’ newspaper has shared that some Pakistani players accepted an appearance fee of USD 2500 per person to attend a meet-and-greet session in Dallas on the sidelines of the T20 World Cup 2024 as well. It also shared that another event, ‘A night with stars’, was called off because of differences in payments made to their captain, Babar Azam and other players as well.

However, these revelations will be analysed during the discussion of the league-stage exit, after the losses to tournament debutants USA and arch-rivals India as well. While the board has seen four different chairmen since December 2022, none of the senior management-level officials have been moved or terminated as well.

“It is now becoming clear that if the players are today an indisciplined and careless lot, the blame for this falls on some of the senior management officials who have been patronising them in many ways including in the finalisation of the central contracts last year,” the source added.

Adding to this, there is the speculation that the team is a divided house with Babar Azam and speedster Shaheen Shah Afridi having different views over the captaincy. Notably, Pakistan’s rather forgettable T20 World Cup campaign in the USA made headlines as it led to the formulation of a code of conduct for players, who are facing criticism for taking their families along and making paid appearances at promotional events during the tournament as well.

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Pakistan had a dismal show in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024

A reliable source in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) confirmed that Chairman Mohsin Naqvi is not happy with the performance of some senior officials and held them responsible for the indiscipline happening in the team, which could not go beyond the league stage as well.

“You can expect the PCB to lose senior management level officials and also enforce some strict policies for the players in future,” the source said. “The fact that so many players not only took their wives and children to the World Cup even had their parents, brothers etc staying in the team hotel has left the chairman unhappy.”

He also said when inquiries were made as to who permitted players to take all their family members on tour, it was informed that some senior officials in the board were behind this decision as well. He also said that the PCB chief had now asked for a performance assessment report from all senior management level officials as Pakistan will host the ICC Champions Trophy early next year.

“Some of these officials are not professionals but fans of the players and have given them lot of concessions which eventually led to the World Cup debacle,” the source again said.