ISLAMABAD  - Former Pakistan fast bowler Sarfraz Nawaz requested Islamabad High Court Justice Shaukat Siddiqui to take suo moto action on Shoaib Akhtar's allegations against some players throwing away matches against different opponents in the recent years.
Sarfraz expressed these views during Meet the Rawalpindi Islamabad Sports Journalists Association forum (RISJA) organised at Islamabad Tennis Complex, as RISJA office located in Pakistan Sports Complex was locked on PSB Director General Syed Amir Hamza orders. Sarfraz said Prime minister Nawaz Sharif should constitute a high level commission to probe Pakistan cricket team's dismal performance against Zimbabwe and especially the loss against South Africa in the third One Day International, as the four changes made by the management was quite dubious and resting Junaid, Afridi had left a big question mark on the outcome of the match.
“In the past Moin Khan was actively involved in match-fixing and he had also done that in the Indian Cricket League, when he was the manager of the Lahore Badshahs. Soon after his appointment as manager of the national team, Pakistan team has started to give mixed results, which is quite evident from the past few series. How people like Moin, who was given punishment for his active involvement in match-fixing, could be given such a high profile job?”
Sarfraz said Sohaib had clearly mentioned in a TV talk that he was aware of when and where Pakistan team throw matches and Shoaib must also be quizzed as why he kept quiet for long time and why he did not inform the PCB or ICC about the dubious activities of the players. He should be punished for keeping quiet as ha had been dishonest with the nation.
Sarfraz supported Shoaib's stance on Afridi saying Shoaib was absolutely right in saying that Afridi was not properly educated and demanded PCB to take stern action against Afridi and Hafeez for speaking against former players and selectors publicly. “It was a clear breach of PCB's code of conduct, then why Najam Sethi is keeping a mum on that.”
Sarfraz termed Sethi a liar and not a man of words as he kept on changing his statements. “Sethi is a defaulter of FBR of Rs10 million and he also owns a luxurious flat amounting to Rs 100million in Manhattan. I challenge Sethi to take me to court if my allegations are wrong.”
He requested Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to immediately remove Sethi from chairman post as he had no knowledge of running cricket affairs. “He kept on changing his stance. First he advised Misbah to take rest and wanted Hafeez to take over the ODI captaincy, but suddenly he had a change of heart and now all of a sudden he has appointed Misbah as skipper of the national team till World Cup 2015. He had met with Waqar Younus in UAE despite being fully aware of the fact that Malik Qayyum had fined Waqar for his involvement in fixings. When Waqar was the coach of the national team three players were caught red-handed in England. Moin had more dubious record than Waqar. He was with the team when team lost to Bangladesh in 1999 world cup match. He organised a local tournament in Karachi, which was dubbed as dubious. To me it is a criminal act to appoint a person like Moin as manager of the national team.”
He said Pakistan team had a great chance of inflicting whitewash on mighty South Africans in the recently concluded ODI series, a feat which could have done after a gap of 22 years, as West Indies was the last team to achieve that feat. He alleged that Sethi didn't want Misbah to achieve the task and deliberately ordered four changes in the squad to make sure Pakistan team fell short of completing the task.”
Sarfraz lauded Imran Khan's efforts in KPK and said Imran was doing a wonderful job of establishing cricket academies in KPK to prepare KPK cricket team. “I had written to Imran and if he required my services for this task, I am willing to offer my services.” On a question regarding he had strong reservations against Imran in the past, Sarfraz said I still disagree on political issues but no one can deny his services for Pakistan cricket. On another query regarding Imran's involvement in betting, Sarfraz said Imran had accepted that he had gambled so that is not a big deal and everybody was aware about that fact.
Sarfraz said he will appear before Islamabad High Court and will provide proves against former ICC president Ehsan Mani as betting was continued unabated in his tenure as well. Asked about current players involvement in dubious activities, he said this could only be prevented through appointing neat and clean people as coach and managers of the national squad. When asked about whom he recommends, Sarfraz said if I name someone he might face trouble from the PCB high command but finally named Mohsin Khan and Abdul Qadir for the responsibilities describing them men of principles who never involved in any dubious activity.
On another question regarding contesting PCB chairman election, Sarfraz said at least Rs 100 million was required to contest chairman election. “I don't have that hefty amount but it is my suggestion only those would be allowed to contest election who had at least played one Test or appeared in 10 first class matches as chairman must be aware about the basics of cricket. There should be a complete ban on giving voting rights to regions or departments as it is almost impossible for them to cast their votes against government's nominated person. This is the only way of stopping irrelevant persons from taking over the PCB helm of affairs,” Sarfraz concluded.