KARACHI, 21 May 2004 — The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) apparently concerned with the fitness of the enigmatic Shoaib Akhtar have issued a letter to the English county Durham asking them to nurse him through the season or release him.
And in a separate letter sent to Shoaib, the PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan has reminded him he remains a valuable player for Pakistan and if he is not 100 percent fit he should get proper medical treatment or consider taking a break from Durham.
Sources in the board have confirmed that Shaharyar had written to Durham asking them to take proper care of Shoaib and play him selectively.
“Shaharyar has made it clear that the board did not want to see Shoaib further aggravate his rib cage injury since he was a valuable player for the Pakistan team,” the source said.
This new line of the board is a complete changeover from until recently when the board suspected Shoaib of “faking” an injury in the third and final Test against India in Rawalpindi and ordered him to appear before a medical commission that found that he indeed have a rib cage injury.
Shaharyar has also made it clear to Durham that Shoaib’s first priority was to Pakistan cricket and he should be played in selective matches by the county or the board would review its position on allowing him to play in the English county championship.
In a separate letter sent to Shoaib, Shaharyar said he could understand him (Shoaib) wanting to play as soon as possible for Durham because of contractual obligations and the money involved. “But he advised him to remember that he was a valuable player for Pakistan he should get proper medical attention for his injury and play selectively for the county as the national team required him for various international commitments this year including the Asia Cup in July,” the source stated.
Shoaib said from Riverside that would be consulting a specialist in London after failing to make a complete recovery from his rib cage stress problem. “I am still feeling stiff and some pain in my side muscles due to the rib cage stress.
PCB Chief Executive Rameez Raja, who returned from a flying visit to Dubai, made it clear that the board had nothing personal against Shoaib and would not like to lose a valuable player like him for non-cricketing reasons.
“I took part in a discussion program on Indo-Pak relations in Dubai and there were several questions asked there from the audience on Shoaib and his future in Pakistan cricket. And I made it clear we want him on board and to perform for Pakistan cricket,” Rameez said.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) will soon be implementing a new mission statement in which the new slogan of Pakistan cricket would be “Team Pakistan” instead of stress on individualism.
Raja said that the board would soon take a policy decision on marketing Pakistan players as “Team Pakistan” instead of the old slogan “Proud to be a Pakistani.”
“The thrust is going to be on team effort and team performance. Our mission statement is going to be reflected in our future strategy and we are going to market it aggressively,” he added.
“In future once a policy decision is taken by the the chairman and the advisory council the board will be referring to the Pakistan team as “Team Pakistan” in all its future press releases, statements and tour schedules,” he added.
At least three other Test-playing nations Australia, India and New Zealand have undergone a dramatic change of fortunes in recent years after changing their team slogan.
While the New Zealanders now call themselves as “Black Caps”, World Champions Australia and India are known as “Team Australia” and “Team India”.
The Australians have also changed their identity from the Australian Cricket Board to Cricket Australia.
Rameez said that the logic of using the slogan of “Team Pakistan” was to forge a cohesion and unity of thoughts and performance in the team with every player’s goal being the common aim — to win laurels for the country.
A select gathering of Pakistan and Indian nationals including Test players Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Rameez Raja in Dubai was unanimous in its opinion that there should not be an overkill of India and Pakistan cricket ties.
Rameez told the gathering, arranged by Standard Chartered Bank for its gold card members and compered by noted Indian commentator and anchor Harsha Bhogle, that the PCB had taken a policy decision not to support any overkill of cricket ties with India.
“There was a certain romance attached to the recent series because it was being played in Pakistan after a long gap.
Plus given the feel good factor in the relations between the two countries prompted more people-to-people exchange during the series with lot of Indian visitors coming over to watch the matches,” Rameez told the gathering. “But we should not be under the false illusion that we will have the same sort of interest or turnout if we have too many cricket exchanges .
Dravid and Kumble, while supporting Rameez’s arguemnt, said that there should be a level of control in matches between the two countries to keep the interest and novelty alive for players, spectators, fans and sponsors.
