Lahore: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has imposed a complete ban on the participation of Pakistani cricketers in the upcoming World Championship of Legends (WCL).
A special meeting of the PCB Board of Governors was held under the chairmanship of Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Mohsin Naqvi, in which deep disappointment and strong reaction were expressed over the double standards and biased attitude of the World Championship of Legends. The meeting unanimously decided to ban Pakistani players from participating in the upcoming World Championship of Legends.
According to the statement, the PCB Board of Governors has said that the WCL took a unilateral decision to award points to a team that deliberately did not play matches, which is against the spirit of the game. The press release issued regarding the cancellation of the Pakistan-India matches was a manifestation of double standards and bias.
The PCB Board of Governors said that the press release subjugated sports to political interests and narrow commercial priorities, thereby undermining the main purpose of the championship. The PCB has always been a pioneer in keeping sports separate from politics.
The Pakistan Cricket Board said that it is regrettable that the basic principles of the tournament are being violated under any invisible pressure. This biased attitude of the organizers is dangerous and worrisome for the future.
The PCB said that the apology from the WCL is an indirect admission that the cancellation of the matches was not based on the principles of sports but on the pressure of a specific nationalist narrative. This duplicitous and biased attitude is intolerable and unacceptable in the world of international sports.
The Board of Governors further said that the violation of the impartial principles of sports due to external pressure has created a very sad situation. The PCB cannot send its team to participate in this tournament in the future. Pakistani players cannot be allowed to participate in a competition that has been tainted by narrow-minded politics.
The meeting was also attended by Board of Governors members Zaheer Abbas, Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Sajjad Ali Khokhar, Zafarullah, Tanveer Ahmed, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, Anwar Ahmed Khan, Tariq Sarwar, PCB Chief Operating Officer Sameer Ahmed, PSL Chief Executive Officer Salman Naseer, Chief Financial Officer Javed Mortaza and Director International Cricket Usman Wahla.