Lahore organiser demands retrials of Central Punjab teams

LAHORE: A seasoned cricket organiser of Lahore has declared the Central Punjab trials unfair and demanded retrials in a fair and impartial manner.

Abid Hussain, president Khizra Club, declared the selection of six Lahore teams “totally unfair, poor and safarshi”.

He claimed that a large number of “safarshi” players were selected by the Selection Committee of PCB headed by Shahid Anwer, Head Coach/Chief Selector Central Punjab Cricket Association.

The former LRCA spokesman pointed out that Ibtisam ul Haq (Inzamam ul Haq’s son), Haider Ramiz Raja (Ramiz Raja’s son), Shafay Malik (Salim Malik’s son), Ali Manzoor (Manzoor Elahi’s son) were selected without any recent past performance. Similarly, Zeeshan Akram (Akram Raza’s son), Daniyal Rana (Mansoor Rana’s son) and Numan Azhar (whose elder brother is a PCB employee) were also selected due to strong connections.

It is important to mention here that Akram Raza is the Head Coach of second eleven cricket team of Central Punjab at the moment while Mansoor Rana is Manager National Cricket Team.

Abid added that many players have been inducted in squads who have not been playing proper cricket for last ten years like Asif Ghafoor, Khawaja M Wasif, Bilawal Rana, Muazzam Hayat.

“All provincial interim boards are just dummies and have failed to appoint local selectors in the Cricket Associations’ trials,” he said.

Abid appealed to PCB patron Imran Khan and Chairman Ehsan Mani to order an inquiry into selection of East, North and West Zone Lahore teams immediately and take necessary action against the culprits who are involved in poor selection.