LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar M Khan has refuted Shahid Afridi’s claims that there is dearth of talent in the country saying talent is abandoned but the need is to hone and polish the talent.
Talking to Nawa-i-Waqt from London, Shaharyar said: “If Afridi has some suggestions for the betterment of Pakistan cricket, he must write us, we will certainly ponder over those suggestions. We have no plan to serve any notice to Afridi as there is no need to do so on a very little things and matters.”
He also denied of using perk and privileges in London saying, “I have been using buses and taxis for my travelling. Although my predecessors used to use Mercedes cars for their travelling, yet I have been using local transport to visit to MCC or ECB. Where I have official meeting, I surely get protocol accordingly but never used any extra facility and benefit for myself.”
Pakistan women team has given pathetic performance against England in England, which was widely criticised by the cricket experts and technocrats. Shaharyar also came down hard on their poor performance against England and pointed out towards minor changes in their coaching staff. “We are trying to manage a female coach for women team. We have also talked to some female coaches, who refused to come to Pakistan and train our women team, but agreed to train them in Dubai. But our top priority is to have a best suitable full-time female coach for our team.”
The PCB chairman sadly has said that the biggest dilemma they have been facing is that they have to hold home series at the neutral venue of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). “The UAE especially Dubai is very expensive venue for us. We host our home series there with a heavy heart and bear heavy financial losses. But it is not possible for us to host the matches of Pakistan A, women team and Under-19 teams.”
Shaharyar revealed that all the players were happy with head Mickey Arthur and training hard under him. “Mickey Arthur is a very experienced and able coach and has been training the players in a highly professional way. The players are also glad with his work and it is being expected that they will deliver under his able coaching.”