Not Mohammed Hafeez’s business how PCB deals with Sharjeel Khan, warns Wasim Khan
PCB chief executive officer Wasim Khan has put out a strongly-worded reprimand to veteran batsman Mohammad Hafeez, saying the batsman needn’t worry about how the PCB deals with Sharjeel Khan’s return. The PCB agreed to waive Sharjeel’s five-year ban after his unconditional apology.
Sharjeel burst onto the scene as a promising talent for Pakistan. In that time, he played 25 ODIs, 15 T20Is, and one Test and earned the reputation for being a hard-hitting batsman. But his role in the 2017 PSL corruption landed him with a five-year ban from the game. And despite his apology in August 2019, it seemed unlikely that the 30-year-old would feature in PSL 2020.
But the Karachi Kings bought him at the auction and deployed him as their opening batsman after the PCB’s decision to waive his ban. In his first taste of action in over two years, Sharjeel could only make 199 runs from 10 matches. This raised questions about whether he was physically fit enough to play at the top level, particularly from Hafeez, who wrote on Twitter that the PCB should set “Standards of Dignity & Pride Higher than any other "Extra Talent" to represent Pakistan." This comment did not go well with the PCB’s sitting CEO, Wasim.
"Current players should not be going up on social media to criticise other players or talk about what policies the cricket board should or shouldn't have. They can have their opinions about various things about world cricket and cricket in general but not about the rights and wrongs of players and the boards and they should leave that to cricket board to answer," Wasim said through a video link from Lahore, reported ESPNCricinfo.
This is not the first time, however, that Hafeez has questioned a player’s return from a ban. In December 2015, he and current Test captain Azhar Ali withdrew from a training camp because Mohammad Amir, who was returning from a spot-fixing ban, was picked. As for Sharjeel, Wasim is certain that there is a long way to go before the southpaw would be considered in the national team set up again.
"I will be personally speaking to Mohammad Hafeez about that and I don't think it's his place to be doing it. No other player in the world does that so why should our Pakistani players do that? In terms of him (Sharjeel) getting selected [for Pakistan] going forward, that is up to the selectors. There is a long way for Sharjeel Khan to go before he is considered to play for Pakistan again,” Wasim added.