The Pakistan Cricket Board has announced a “blanket ban” from future participation in the World Championship of Legends (WCL) citing “biased” conduct by the organisers of the tournament.
The decision from the governing body of Pakistan cricket comes after India Champions forfeited two games, including the semi-final, against Pakistan Champions due to strained political relations between the two countries.
Several Indian players, including Shikhar Dhawan, had voiced their refusal to face Pakistan in Birmingham in the league stage of the tournament. The two sides were slated to meet again in the semi-finals before team India opted to pull out of the game instead.
Meanwhile, the PCB also criticised WCL’s decision to award points to a forfeiting team. Notably, both teams shared points when India had refused to play Pakistan in the group match.
“The PCB, during its 79th BoG meeting held virtually under the chairmanship of Mohsin Naqvi reviewed with considerable disappointment WCL’s appalling conduct of awarding points to a willfully forfeiting team, and the content of the press releases of the WCL announcing the cancellation of the scheduled India vs. Pakistan legends matches, which were tainted with hypocrisy and bias,” the PCB said in a statement.
“The contents of the said press releases highlight a duality where the narrative of “peace through sport” is selectively applied and sporting events are held hostage to political expediency and narrow commercial interests.
In light of this unfortunate development, which underscores a clear and intolerable pattern of external influence and a disregard for the principles of sporting neutrality, the Pakistan Cricket Board is compelled to take a firm stance. The PCB can no longer condone participation in an event where the fundamental principles of fair play and unbiased administration are compromised by external pressures,” it added.
The statement from PCB comes after its 79th board of governors meeting, held virtually under the chairmanship of Mohsin Naqvi.
The virtual meeting was attended by Sumair Ahmed Syed, Salman Naseer, Zaheer Abbas, Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Sajjad Ali Khokhar, Zafarullah Jadgal, Tanveer Ahmed, Tariq Sarwar, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, Anwaar Ahmad Khan, Adnan Malik, Usman Wahla (special invitee) and Mir Hassan Naqvi (Additional Secretary).
