After the new central contracts mixed reactions came to the fore, but the reactions from fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar and leg-spinner Danish Kaneria caught everybody’s attention and soon as these bowlers showed a bit of resentment, the axe of disciplinary action fell on them big time.

To get an idea of the PCB system to award contract lets go back to the previous contracts that were awarded in July last year in which Shoaib Malik (Captain), Younis Khan, Mohammad Yousuf, Abdul Razzaq, Shoaib Akhtar, Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Asif and Umar Gul were placed in Category “A”, Salman Butt (vice-captain), Danish Kaneria, Mohammad Sami, Kamran Akmal, Imran Farhat, Yasir Hameed, Mohammad Hafeez in category “B” while the category “C” included Faisal Iqbal, Rao Iftikhar, Imran Nazir, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yasir Arafat. The interesting bit was that Inzamam-ul-Haq was not found good enough for any category, was not it strange? Not at all, because the PCB chairman at that time said “It doesn’t mean that Inzamam’s career is over. If the selectors find that Inzamam meets the criteria of selection and still has something to offer to Pakistan, he can still play.” So this time around, Mr. Kaneria and Mr. Akhtar should not be dejected because if it can happen with someone like Inzamam then it can happen with anyone.


While keeping in view the criteria for the last contracts, this time around the situation is surely seems a bit fishy as few mates were either retained or promoted despite of their not-so-satisfactory performances, such as wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal, whose form behind the wickets has not been even close to a satisfactory one, yet he was retained in Category “B”. Another fellow is fast bowler Muhammad Asif who is no doubt a good bowler but in view of his performance in the last six months if he is retained then this is question for the PCB to answer. He played only 2 test matches (Home series against South Africa), bowled 70 overs and claimed 2 wickets. On the other the people who were demoted (Danish Kaneria and Shoaib Akhtar) have had a reasonably good last six months of the year 2007. The leg spinner, played 5 test matches and claimed 22 wickets, while the Rawalpindi Express took 9 wickets in 4 test matches he played. In Shoaib Akhtar’s case many would recall his reported behaviour, but I feel for Kaneria, he should have been handled with a bit a respected, who is only behind Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Imran Khan and Abdul Qadir with over 200 Test wickets. One more thing goes in favour of Kaneria is that he has never breached the code-of-conduct in the past, this latest move definitely followed the pain he might have felt after the demotion.

Now coming to Shoaib Akhtar whose case is a bit bleak as he is currently on a two-year probation period, as part of the punishment he received after a notorious bat-hitting event. During this period, any act of indiscipline or breach of code of conduct could result in an automatic life ban. On Shoaib’s recent statements, the board sent him notice, and Shoaib refused to response, saying since he is not contracted to the PCB therefore not to respond to the notice. This statement of Shoaib has really opened up a new front and the outcome is likely to be against the speedster. My question to the authorities is that if Shoaib Akhtar is not managed properly then was not it a fault of the manger also?

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