Daily Times

ISLAMABAD: A member of Pakistan’s blind cricket team in a video released on Monday claimed to have been deprived of prize money by the Pakistan Blind Cricket Council (PBCC) announced by the Peshawar Zalmi owner Javed Afridi for the team’s performance in the 2017 Blind T20 World Cup. Idrees Saleem, the affected player, said in the video that the blind cricket team had come second place in the Blind T20 World Cup last year, after which Afridi had announced $20,000 prize money for the team. He alleged that PBCC Chairman Sultan Shah had, in an audio message, declined to distribute the prize money on the pretext of substandard performance by the blind team. Saleem alleged that Sultan had asked: “What did they (the cricketers) achieve?” The cricketer said he had taken the injustice up and spoken about it in the media, after which Shah backtracked and assured players that the PBCC would distribute the prize money among them.

“Next year (2018), the team was again a runner-up in the World Cup and the PBCC held a conference in which all 19 players and officials, except me, were handed the money,” Saleem said, explaining that last year’s announced prize money had been distributed to the cricket team this year, and he had been deprived of his share of the reward. “When I contacted PBCC Chairman Sultan, he asked me to approach the media in order to receive my share of the money,” Saleem said. Saleem, a father of three with a Masters degree in Education, and B1 category player appealed to Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Chief Justice Saqib Nisar and Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Najam Sethi to take notice of the issue. PBCC Chairman Sultan Shah, in his response to the video, confirmed that Saleem was not given any share of the prize money announced last year. He said that the player was not rewarded because of his attitude towards discipline. He accused Saleem of violating the players’ Code of Conduct multiple times. He clarified that the PBCC had tried to manage the issue in-house and did not highlight it. Providing details of the issue, he said that the PBCC distributed Rs3.15 million among players and officials of the team on February 17 at an award ceremony.

Sultan added that while the Zalmi had announced a Rs2m cash prize last year, the PBCC had this year added Rs1.15m from its own finances to the prize money. Of the total amount of Rs3.15m, Rs2.6m has been distributed among 20 players, he said. No national sports federation would tolerate and overlook the disciplinary issues of any player for a longer period of time, the PBCC Chairman said, adding that the cricketing body had to set an example for others. He said that through this action, the council delivered a strong message that there is policy of zero tolerance regarding poor discipline. Sultan said that Saleem should not have approached the media and could even face a ban, adding that the Code of Conduct specified that internal PBCC affairs not be raised in the media.

Published in Daily Times, February 20^th 2018.