Shoaib Akhtar cites example of Sourav Ganguly, says ‘my job was not to sit on TV shows’

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes the nation’s cricket board can only prosper if they have the right people taking decisions. He questioned the mentality of the elite class in Pakistan and said that they always want a weak person under them so that they can run affairs. “Elite class wants an average crowd under them so that they can always dictate terms to them. They need a chairman like that, a captain who is docile, do we need a captain or something else. A docile captain, what can he do, does he have to walk on to the field or offer prayers?” he said during a chat show.

Akhtar also said that cricketing boards all across the world are employing former cricketers to run affairs but PCB is not adopting this approach and hence, cricket is suffering in the country.

“Sourav Ganguly is president of BCCI, Rahul Dravid is heading the national cricket academy. Graeme Smith heads Cricket South Africa. Mark Boucher is the head coach, but the opposite is happening in Pakistan. They have not used me, my job was not to sit on TV shows, they should have allowed me to run cricket, “ Akhtar further added.

Akhtar also said that Pakistan have stopped developing agencies and academies in the country and this had an impeding impact on the game and the young players trying to take this up as a career choice.

He also went on to add that owing to the coronavirus pandemic, IPL will take a toll and India will incur heavy loss.

“I hope India do not incur this loss and I hope they prosper, but it is all happening which is unfortunate,” he went on to add.

“The biggest reason for anger is PSL… Cricket returned to Pakistan after so many years, the PSL was happening in our country for the first time now even that is at risk. The foreign players are leaving, it will take place behind closed doors,” said Akhtar on his Youtube channel.

“I don’t understand why you have to eat things like bats, drink their blood and urine and spread some virus across the globe… I’m talking about the Chinese people. They have put the world at stake. I really don’t understand how can you eat bats, dogs, and cats. I’m really angry.

HT