Out-of-favour Pakistan batter Ahmed Shehzad withdrew his name for the upcoming Champions Cup on Friday after launching an angry tirade against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on social media platform X, formerly Twitter. In the tweet, he accused the PCB of “injustice and favouritism.”
Earlier this month, PCB introduced the Champions Cup, which comprises three new tournaments, played the first-class, 50-overs and T20 formats, with the aim to “bridge the gap between domestic and international cricket” in Pakistan. The tournament is slated set to be played in Faisalabad from 12-29 September, and will feature the country’s top 150 cricketers.
Shehzad, who last played for Pakistan in 2019 in a T20I match, was among the top cricketers named for the tournament. However, he pulled out of the competition after criticising PCB of “favoritism, false promises, and injustice towards domestic players”.
“With a heavy heart, I’ve decided not to play in the Domestic Cricket Champions Cup. The PCB’s favoritism, false promises, and injustice towards domestic players are unacceptable,” Shehzad wrote.
“In a time when Pakistan is struggling with inflation, poverty, and massive electricity bills, the PCB is wasting 5 million ₹on mentors for doing nothing and rewarding failed players in the current team who brought Pakistan cricket to an All-time Low. It’s even more disrespectful that the PCB claims they don’t have ‘instruments for surgery’ which is a huge disrespect for domestic players. As a Pakistani and true cricket lover, I cannot support a system that has no value for merit. I refuse to be a part of this failed setup.”
A few hours after his tweet, Shehzad lambasted the country’s cricket board in a separate social-media post captioned “Damage control strategy by PCB.” In the video, he outlined under-fire PCB’s desperate need to be represented by some big names of the nation to “protect” their image.
“The condition of Pakistan cricket team is such that PCB needs some names that can stand in front to protect them so that they come in the line of fire. The lower the level of Pakistan cricket teams falls, the higher the money paid to these people. Even though they have coaching staff, but no disrespect, just like there are maids working at homes and the women of the house point out the dirty areas after a while, the work of the PCB looks the same,” he said.
Shehzad’s tweet also came in the wake of Pakistan’s 10-wicket loss to Bangladesh in the opening Test match of the two-game series last week. It was their first-ever loss against the opposition in Test history.
