It's official! Pakistan Cricket Board imposes blanket ban on future WCL participation

Pakistan Cricket Board (IANS Photo)

Poll Do you support PCB's decision to ban participation in future World Championship of Legends tournaments? Yes, it's justified No, it's too harsh

The Pakistan Cricket Board has decided to implement a complete ban on participating in future World Championship of Legends tournaments.The PCB's decision comes after they found WCL's response to India Legends' withdrawal from their semi-final match against Pakistan to be biased and hypocritical."The PCB, during its 79th BoG meeting held virtually under the chairmanship of Mohsin Naqvi reviewed with considerable disappointment WCL's appalling conduct of awarding points to a willfully forfeiting team, and the content of the press releases of the WCL announcing the cancellation of the scheduled India vs. Pakistan legends matches, which were tainted with hypocrisy and bias," read an official statement from PCB, as reported by IANS."The contents of the said press releases highlight a duality where the narrative of "peace through sport" is selectively applied and sporting events are held hostage to political expediency and narrow commercial interests."In light of this unfortunate development, which underscores a clear and intolerable pattern of external influence and a disregard for the principles of sporting neutrality, the Pakistan Cricket Board is compelled to take a firm stance.The PCB can no longer condone participation in an event where the fundamental principles of fair play and unbiased administration are compromised by external pressures."Indian cricket player Shikhar Dhawan and several teammates had previously expressed their unwillingness to play against Pakistan in Birmingham during the league stage.The teams were scheduled to meet again in the semi-finals before India decided to withdraw from the match.The PCB's virtual Board of Governors meeting included prominent attendees such as Sumair Ahmed Syed, Salman Naseer, Zaheer Abbas , and other board officials.Additional participants in the meeting were Zahid Akhtar Zaman, Sajjad Ali Khokhar, Zafarullah Jadgal, Tanveer Ahmed, Tariq Sarwar, Muhammad Ismail Qureshi, Anwaar Ahmad Khan, Adnan Malik, Usman Wahla, and Mir Hassan Naqvi.

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