Get Well Soon, PCB chief tells extremist Bal Thackeray

By Faisal Adnan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) November 15, 2012: Despite of a hardline approach by the extremist Hindu leader Bal Thackeray, Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf sent him a “Get Well Soon” message on Thursday.

As per the local media reports, the extremist Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray has demanded the Indian government to do away with Pakistan’s tour to India next month

However, PCB chief sent positive vibes through his Get Well Soon message for the hardliner politician who is in struggling in a critical condition in a Mumbai hospital.

Zaka Ashraf told reporters, “I have sent a message of get well soon to Mr. Bal Thackeray. Our religion and our Prophet Mohammad (SAWW) taught us that we should wish everyone good health and life and following that I have wished him well and sent him a bouquet.”

Bal Thackeray and other extremist Hindu activists have been demanding vociferously to cancel the limited overs series between Pakistan and India urging the New Delhi-incumbent Congress-led government to keep away from reviving cricketing ties until Pakistan brings perpetrators of 2008 Mumbai Attacks to justice.

The New Delhi had severed all sporting ties with Pakistan following the deadly attacks which left 166 people killed.

Zaka Ashraf urged Bal Thackeray to play his role in defusing tension between the nuclear-armed bitter neighbors. He said, “I hope that Mr. Thackeray gets well soon and plays his part in bringing the two nations together by supporting both the teams during this series”.

Pakistan is due to play two Twenty20 Internationals and three One Day Internationals during the course of their two weeks long tour to India after a gap of five years.

Pakistan cricket team, which will land in Indian capital on December 22, will take on the home side in first Twenty20 International in Bangalore (Bengaluru) on December 25 followed by the second T20I in Ahmedabad on December 27. The Twenty20 series will be followed by One Day International series which will have both teams featuring three ODIs in Chennai, Kolkata, and New Delhi on December 30, January 3, and January 6, respectively.

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Zaka Ashraf may replace Nadeem Sarwar with ‘Professional’ media manager

By Tasawwar Abbas

LAHORE, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) November 13, 2012: Back-to-back controversies has turned Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Zaka Ashraf unhappy with his media manager and he has decided to replace Nadeem Sarwar with a professional, TheSportsNEXT.com has learnt.

A close source to the PCB chairman told this scribe on the condition of anonymity that Zaka Ashraf understands his media managed is incapable of handling tough situations with the media therefore the cricket board and cricketers keep finding them in the hot frying pan of controversies consistently.

Sources said, “Zaka Ashraf is unhappy with Nadeem Sarwar’s performance as PCB media manager and has received plenty of complaints for his rude behavior with the media persons”.

They added, “Some media persons contacted the PCB chief and told him about Nadeem Sarwar’s list of favorite sports journalists besides complaining of misbehave with the ones who are not in his good books”.

Zaka Ashraf’s advisors have also suggested the PCB chairman to relieve Nadeem Sarwar as PCB media manager for his inability to handle issues in a subtle manner and thus earning the cricket board a bad name in the local media.

Sources claimed, “Some PCB officials have also submitted their complaints with the chairman regarding rude behavior of Nadeem Sarwar and advised him to hire a professional manager for the all-important job”.

It is important to mention here that like most of the appointments at the Pakistan Cricket Board, Nadeem Sarwar was also brought into the PCB fold due to his political influence as he used to serve Bilawal House Islamabad. Nadeem Sarwar has been reportedly misbehaving with the sports journalists and recently had a verbal quarrel with Islamabad’s sports journalists followed by an altercation with the Karachi sports journalists.

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Big Bash League to rev up Pak cricketers: Zaka Ashraf

By Shoaib Ahmed

KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) November 8, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has appreciated the Pakistani cricketers getting a chance to play in the KFC Big Bash League (BBL) saying playing under Aussie conditions will help them become better cricketers.

PCB double standards comes to the fore yet again as stylish Mohammad Yousuf is yet to get NoC for featuring in President’s Trophy

Talking exclusively with TheSportsNEXT.com on Thursday, the PCB Chairman said that playing in Australia domestic cricket competition is a good opportunity for Pakistani cricketers.

"In Big Bash League, Pakistani cricketers make good money and get ample opportunities to play against the world’s top players on Australian wickets which is going to help them to achieve the competitive edge at international nationals”, Zaka Ashraf told this scribe.

The PCB has once again showed its double standards as on one side it has allowed top cricketers like Saeed Ajmal, Umar Akmal and Shahid Afridi to play in the KFC Big Bash League but on the other it has stopped Mohammad Yousuf from playing in the domestic cricket tournament.

It is a good omen for Pakistan cricket that foreign cricket leagues are inviting them but at the same time it’s a hard nut to crack for the cricket fans in Pakistan that why Zaka Ashraf is yet to hand Mohammad Yousuf NoC to play in the domestic cricket competition.

The PCB refused to issue a non-objection certification (NoC) to Mohammad Yousuf for his participation in the ongoing President’s Trophy first-class cricket tournament.

Only last month, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf had told this scribe at the National Stadium during the exhibition match between Pakistan Stars XI and World International XI that he was not going to risk Pakistani cricketers before the much-anticipated Pakistan-India cricket series as the national team can’t bear fitness problems to any of the top cricketers.

However, on the other hand, Mohammad Yousuf, who is out of PCB selectors’ favors for a long time, is still waiting for green signal from the PCB to play national domestic cricket tournaments but the PCB officials are keeping mum on his issue.

The PCB’s silence has prompted former skipper Rashid Latif to lash out at the cricket board officials who are not doing justice to the talent and experience of Mohammad Yousuf.

Rashid Latif wants Mohammad Yousaf in his domestic team Port Qasim Authority and he requested the PCB to issue him the required NoC in this regard but he is yet to receive the PCB version on the issue.

The PCB officials and authorities were not available to comment on the issue despite of several attempts.

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PCB chairman not happy with inconsistent Abdul Razzaq

By Nadira Mushtaque

Zaka Ashraf puts blame of Bangladesh's hesitance to tour Pakistan on Punjab government.

LAHORE, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 15, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf said Monday that the cricket board has supported veteran all-rounder Abdul Razzaq consistently but he failed to come up with the goods on regular basis.

Talking exclusively with TheSportsNEXT.com, Zaka Ashraf said, “Selectors didn't want to select Abdul Razzaq for the ICC World Twenty20 2012 but I intervened to get him selected in the team but performance was not that remarkable to earn him an automatic place in the playing eleven”.

Talking about absence of senior cricketers in the domestic cricket tournaments, the PCB chief said the board has made it clear to all the players in the national circuit that they must play domestic cricket if they want to get considered for national selection. “None of the players would be allowed to play county cricket if they try to prefer it over domestic cricket”, he made it clear.

International cricket is returning to Pakistan’s biggest metropolis Karachi next week and the PCB chief was not only happy about it but he mentioned the board officials were keeping a very close look at the PakistanXIvWorldXI matches at National Stadium on October 20-21, 2012.

He stated that the International Cricket Council has been supporting the PCB on a number of issues especially in resumption of international cricket. He alleged that lack of security arrangements by the Punjab government never helped the PCB to make foreign teams tour Pakistan. He added that the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) was almost certain to send its team to Pakistan but Punjab government’s refusal to provide sufficient level of security made the BCB to stop its team from touring the war-torn country.

Talking about gutsy players like Ahmed Shehzad and Zulqarnain Haider, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf said that both the players are good international cricketers and the PCB supported both of them for a long time but both have psychological problems which is not helping their international careers.

“Zulqarnain Haider threatened selectors after they dropped him for the Australia series and Ahmed Shehzad showed indiscipline in a number of domestic matches against umpires. Services of sports psychologist Maqbool Babri will be taken for both the players”, he said.

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Pakistan team to win semi-final: Zaka Ashraf

By AM Khan

LAHORE, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) October 4, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Broad (PCB) Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf expressed his hope on Wednesday that the national cricket team would win semi-final against Sri Lanka because players are united and have performed very well throughout the ICC World Twenty20 2012.

Zaka Ashraf told local media here that Mohammad Hafeez was leading the team in good fashion as skipper and the team was fully capable to perform well.

The team would win World Twenty20 title because it has developed into a good combination, Zaka maintained.

To a query regarding Shahid Afridi’s future, he said: “Afridi is an outstanding all-rounder and has the ability to change the situation of match. I hope Afridi will perform as he was key player in past.”

"We have appointed a fielding coach and now team is showing good result in fielding,” he added.

He said that team would keep playing with the same spirit and perform well to bring more laurels for the country.

Captain Hafeez said that team would succeed in semi-final. “We will fulfill the hopes of the nation.”

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Zaka Ashraf meets former Test captain Majid Khan

By AM Khan

LAHORE, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) September 28, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf held a meeting with former legendary player and Pakistan Test Captain Majid Khan at his residence on Friday.

 

During their meeting ways and means to further improve the domestic cricket structure in Pakistan came under discussion.

The PCB Chairman briefed Majid Khan on the measures being taken to revamp the Domestic Cricket set-up and sought his suggestions to further rev it up.

Majid Khan also shared his views on return of international cricket to Pakistan which is on the top priority of the PCB chief’s list.

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PCB appoints Javed Miandad as batting consultant

By Ubaid Awan

KARACHI (TheSportsNext) September 8, 2012: Former Pakistani captain and ex-head coach Javed Miandad has been appointed as batting consultant of the national cricket team for the upcoming 2012 ICC World Twenty20, sources told TheSportsNext.com on Saturday.

 

The 2012 ICC World Twenty20 is commencing from September 18, 2012 in Sri Lanka where cricket teams from across the world would vie for supremacy in the shortest format of the game.

Sources told this scribe that PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf made the appointment on Saturday after realizing the need to have senior professional with the team during the mega event.

Javed Miandad will remain with the Men in Green during the course of the 2012 ICC World Twenty20 in Sri Lanka, sources added.

Javed Miandad, 55, who represented Pakistan between 1975 and 1996, is the country’s leading run scorer in Test cricket.

Regarded as the “greatest batsman Pakistan has ever produced” by ESPNcricinfo, Javed Miandad has previously worked with the PCB as batting coach of the national cricket team but his over-enthusiasm and habit of interfering into players’ issues made senior cricketers in the team to get him off the job in 2003.

Miandad has had a total of three coaching stints with the national cricket team.

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PCB chief may show Intikhab Alam exit door

By Ahmed Jatt

KARACHI (TheSportsNext) September 3, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf has decided to do away with old legs in the cricket board by not renewing their contracts and shuffling their duties, sources told thesportsnext.com on Monday.

Sources who are responsible to implement PCB chief’s policies claimed that Mr. Zaka Ashraf is on a rebuilding course and is looking to inject new blood at the top positions of the cricket board.

They added that the name of former manager and current Director Game and Development Intikhab Alam is also in the list which the PCB boss is going to relieve in coming days.

When the TSN scribe asked the sources about Intikhab Alam’s likely removal, they said, “Yeah, you have learnt right. Zaka Ashraf is not happy with some of board's top officials and Intikhab Alam is amongst them. While the PCB boss is willing to allow some of the board officials to keep working, he is all set to stop journey of those officials who are with the board for a long time".

“Everyone knows that in the current setup, there is a strong lobby who have been getting hold of key positions in the board which may make it hard for PCB Chairman to remove Intikhab Alam”, sources added.

“Perhaps, it won’t be easy for Zaka Ashraf to remove such characters but he has experience of working in multinational culture which would help him overcoming the situation”, the sources said adding, “He (Zaka) restricted Intikab Alam earlier and now he is going to say him good bye”.

“Intikhab Alam is not alone in that list as some more board officials also will join him at exit doors of the PCB", sources claimed.

Another source who is also in PCB confirmed that Zaka Ashraf has renewed some of officials contracts and also signed some of those board officials contracts who lost their jobs recently as their previous contracts were over.

"Yes! Chairman Zaka Ashraf gave some of the board officials new contracts while some others got their contracts renewed. Wasim Bari is also among those who got new contracts (a three-month contract)”, they said adding, “Zaka didn’t offer same contracts to all and sundry and everybody got contract of different time periods ranging from three months to a year".

On the other hand, a political leader claimed that the PCB's current director games and development Mr Intikab Alam is trying to save his post as he has contacted some of the ruling party leaders. “If he gets their sympathies then he might survive”, he added.

It is merit mentioning here that chairman PCB Zaka Ashraf, who is also member of the ruling party's central executive committee and had acquired the top PCB post on political basis, has knelt down to political pressure in the past.

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PCB to launch Pakistan Premier League in 2013

By Tasawwar Abbas

LAHORE (TheSportsNext) August 29, 2012: Chairman Pakistan Cricket Board Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf said Wednesday that the first edition of the Pakistan premier League will not be played until next year.

 

The PCB authorities have been planning the country’s international Twenty20 league in a bid to make international cricketers play in Pakistan which has been facing the threat of terrorism and the international cricket teams are not willing to tour the country ever since Sri Lankan cricket team was attacked in Lahore in 2009.

Talking to reporters in Multan the other day, Chaudhry Zaka Ashraf said, "I think, we should be able to launch it sometime in March next year and we will be inviting overseas players to participate in the event and make it successful.

All the other regional countries including India (Indian Premier League), Bangladesh (Bangladesh Premier League) and Sri Lanka (Sri Lanka Premier League) have successfully launched their versions of Twenty20 leagues but the untoward law and order situation in Pakistan is not helping the PCB cause to have its own Twenty20 league.

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