Not much idea abt the detaiils. But agree with Saleem in principle. No smoke without fire. Bad judgments were made. Waqar Younus is on record stating Sarfraz does not have correct technique.
He needs to own that statement. And acknowledge he made a mistake. Sweeping controversies under the rug should not be tolerated. Now if the reporter is simply making it up that is another story. It does not seem line he is.
A journalist’s duty is to bring up controversial issues out in the open. Don’t shoot the messenger.
There was a comment earlier abt Waqar performance as a player. That has nothing to do with what is happening. He should not get a free pass based on past performance.
Not selecting Fawad in World Cup squad = Gross injustice to the fellow
Not having Sarfraz in Playing XI before this game (despite repeated failures by Messrs YK and NJ and despite poor keeping by UA) = Injustice to the fellow
Now before blaming others take a look at the following:
1. Who is the PCB Chairman? (who had final say in WC team selection? It shouldn’t be like that but we all know that in VVIP Pakistan, PCB chairman has a habit of poking his nose into everything: Shaharyar Khan (First cousin of late Indian cricket captain Nawab Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi) 2. Who is the PCB Chief selector (did not select Fawad)?: Moin Khan 3. Who was until recently team manager and joint selector of World Cup Playing XI (along with Waqar and Misbah)?: Moin Khan
Even if there was alleged altercation between Waqar and Sarfraz, this thing needs to be investigated by PCB and team management and dealt with accordingly. There was no need to give it political (or any other) colour. It is not for journalists to float this thing around based on mere gossip or hearsay. PCB and our media seem to have very poor PR skills. There is no shortage of attention-seeking idiots (Sarfraz Nawaz, Aamir Sohail, Yousuf, Shoaib Akhtar etc. Even Sikander Bakht and Basit Ali are overemotional, usu. way of the mark and do not impress me one bit) in Pakistan and Yahya has just added his name to that long (not so) illustrious list!. I am sure there were also indian journalists at the press conference who understood every word of it. Why must we always wash our dirty linen in public?
There is politics within every board and in every dressing room. It is not all plain sailing as it might appear to us from outside. There are arguments and disagreements in almost every sports dressing room. The important thing is how you deal with it whilst maintaining team harmony and discipline at the same time.
Look at Kevin Pietersen’s example for instance. I know he is a bit of a brat (refused to respect the judgement and strategy of coach Peter Moores because he had not played cricket at the highest level. KP does have a point though..) but I primarily blame politics by ECB and Alistair Cook for premature end to KP’s international career. The ECB’s poor handling is at least 70% responsible for it imo and after woeful showing at the World Cup, ECB now seems desperate to have him back. ECB’s been forced to eat humble pie. Colin Graves has added to ECB
I have met many Indians who believe that because of politics by Dhoni and Srinivasan (favouring CSK players), Yuvraj is out of the team. This has gone unnoticed so far because India are playing so well
^ and if that is the case, it should be exposed. Whether it was KP or Yuvraj. Or Abhinav Mukind never making it back aft et scoring 49 as opener in England few years ago when everyone else failed. With Gambhir and sehwag getting chance after chance. Or Dhawan in test. Or Nohit.
To just expect ecb or ocb or bci to do justice may sound reasonable approach. But if these organizations do not have good track record of cleaning up such issues, journalists SHOULD do their part. And that is not washing dirty laundry. It is simply seeking justice. And holding the powers that be accountable.
I beleive Yahya hussiani , even though asking right questions but the way he asked is really showing he and his channel wants some mirch masala. Even the programs he is doing now ( compare to earlier years ) he looks very much like a black mailer not a clean journalizs
GoldenAsif: Though Moin Khan was ‘chief selector’ I doubt all the 15 players were his ‘agreed-upon’ list, from recently concluded ‘let me go free otherwise I’ll hold press conference against you (team selection)’ tells us a lot about that. From the looks of it, Moin had some names and in the end Sethi overwrote it, yes he is not in the chairman but he is involved a lot in pulling strings.
Kaptaan, Sethi is a smooth talker, a maha guppy and it won’t surprise me one bit if he did some hanky panky behind the scenes
Don’t like Sethi or his ‘chela’ Muneeb one bit (in ‘aapas ki baat’). Both come across as dishonest and shady characters to me
but
Sethi (a member of PCB board of governors so does have considerable influence within the board) was not the PCB chairman when the WC squad was announced, It was Shaharyar. Recently when Hafeez was sent back and the team management apparently wanted to replace him with Sami, Shaharyar stepped in and overruled it (and Rahat was sent instead)…fruits of VVIP culture
Rahat has justified his selection but Shahryar had no business poking his nose into this matter. It should have been the chief selector and team management’s decision. Just shows you how PCB chairmen have over the years abused their privileged position
