LAHORE – Former Test cricketers and ex cricket board officials criticised the protests held by Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA) and said that a few people were trying to achieve their aims by creating discrimination among provinces.
They said that players were being selected on the basis of politics rather than merit. Talking about this issue, former chief selector PCB Abdul Qadir said that he was unable to understand why the KCCA making hue and cry over the selection of cricketers based on politics rather than merit. He said that present chief selector Mohsin Hassan Khan belongs to Karachi and earlier, Iqbal Qasim and Salahuddin Sallu both were from Karachi so when they had their own chief selectors then why they not select Karachi players.
Qadir said that no Karachi players were deprived of their right of selection due to politics as if any one has talent and skill and comes on merit, why not he will be given chance. He said that selectors never prefer provincial or any other value of cricketers to their merit and skills. The main focus of selector is always to select those players they perform well and prove their mettle in the team.
He said nothing would be happened with these so-called protests; the KCCA should talk with PCB and write a letter to the governing body on this issue. On a question, he said M Sami, Faisal Iqbal, Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Hassan Raza etc were given a lot of chances but they did not maintain their places in the team due to their inconsistent performances. “I, time and again, asked the cricket board not to give chances to those who are unable to prove their skills in the matches and try young talent as they are our future and they have very good records in domestic cricket, they work hard to go ahead unlikely to those who had played many matches with zero performance and not ready to work hard to overcome their weaknesses. So just give chance to youngsters and make a very strong team for the upcoming assignments.
Talking on this issue, former PCB Chief Gen Tauqeer Zia said that the protest by KCCA could be prove to be a big mistake for them. If Karachi players are neglected then they should meet board’s officials and told them about their reservations. I hope that after negotiates, the matter could be resolved.
It seems that the association is promoting this wrong tradition which must be condemned. They must know that the chief selector, team captain Shahid Afridi and Younus Khan also from Karachi so it is totally wrong to say that Karachi players are being neglected. Asad Shafiq is a good player and made his berth in the team by performing very well. KCCA protest is illegal and could be harmful for the players’ future.
He said if players want to be selected in the national team, they must perform well at domestic level then they can gradually go towards the international cricket which is a right and appropriate way of go towards their destination.
