PCB Has Little Tolerance For Indisciplined Players: Shaharyar Khan

The Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, Shaharyar Khan has dismissed the impression that cricket authorities are soft on players who commit acts of indiscipline or breach their central contracts.

"The board has a clear cut policy on dealing with such cases and no exceptions are made," he told PTI.

The PCB has come under fire in recent days for its handling of some cases of indiscipline during the Pakistan Cup one-day tournament in Faisalabad.

Most notably the incident involving former captain Younis Khan who returned home midway through the event after being unhappy with umpiring decisions and was summoned for a disciplinary hearing by the match referee. He was than fined half of his match fees.

"Younis Khan is a very senior player and he realized his mistake and apologized to the board. And when a senior player like Younis apologizes in response to a show cause notice you have to handle the case accordingly," Khan said.

"The good thing is that if someone like Younis can admit and regret his mistake it is an example for other players as well," he said.

The board accepted Younis's apology and allowed him to return to playing in the Pakistan Cup in which he was captaining the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa franchise before he left them stranded in a huff.

The PCB chief insisted the board had little tolerance for players who breach their contracts.

The PCB has also faced criticism for ignoring continued acts of indiscipline by batsman Umar Akmal who was again caught up in an unwanted controversy during the tournament when he visited a theatre to watch a dance drama and allegedly got into a brawl with some people there.

But an internal inquiry by the PCB's anti-corruption, security and vigilance department has apparently found no evidence of Umar getting involved in any brawl at the theatre.

Pakistan's outgoing coach, Waqar Younis in his report had recommended dropping Umar from the national team for his non-serious attitude towards cricket and continued offences.

A senior member of the PCB's board of governors, Zafar Mahmood, who is Chairman of Wapda, also today lashed out at the board for its policies and governance and lack of transparency in decision making.

In a letter sent to Shaharyar, Mahmood said he was disappointed at the manner in which Inzamam-ul-Haq was named chief selector without consulting the board and also took the Chairman to task for extravagant spending in the board.

But Khan said every member had a right to raise issues and when the board of governors met on May 3 all the issues would be discussed.

Khan also confirmed that the new head coach of the team would be announced in two days time.