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Pakistan pacer Naseem Shah has been accused by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for "violating the terms of his central contract" after a now-deleted X post appeared to criticise the Chief Minister of Punjab, Maryam Nawaz, who had come for Pakistan Super League (PSL) opener with other dignitaries despite the tournament taking place behind close doors due to a fuel crisis triggered by West Asia conflict.
Naseem, who has represented Pakistan in all formats and has 152 international wickets, has been given a show-cause notice by the board. A statement from PCB said that disciplinary action would be determined after hearing Naseem's side of things, as per ESPNCricinfo. Naseem, representing Rawalpindi Pindiz, one of the two new PSL franchises, appeared to take a jab at Maryam ahead of the tournament opener between Hyderabad Kingsmen and Lahore Qalandars. Last week, PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi announced that the tournament would be taking place without spectators in the stadium due to the need to conserve fuel following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the West Asia crisis. But several dignitaries were present at the first game, including Maryam, who is also the daughter of ex-Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif and niece of current PM Shahbaz Sharif. Maryam was seen arriving at the Gadaffi Stadium with a full-fledged security entourage with plenty of cars and was also seen meeting several players and people at the venue. Naseem quote-tweeted the post from PCB's media account, saying as quoted by ESPNCricinfo, " Why is she treated like the Queen at Lord's?". Minutes later, the post was deleted and replaced with another post claiming that the pacer's account had been hacked and eventually recovered by him. However, PCB has now issued a statement declaring that Naseem violated both the terms of his central contract as well as media policy and regulations. While PCB did not make it clear which clause had been violated, it appears to be the clause 2.23 of the PCB's code of conduct, stating that "public criticism of, or inappropriate comment in relation to the Board, any of its officials or sponsors or policies, the ICC or any of its officers or sponsors, Player, Player Support Personnel or Match Officials including umpires and match referees, irrespective of when such criticism or inappropriate comment is made" is not permitted. PCB has taken a strong action in case of any political expression by its players recently, with all-rounder Aamer Jamal fined over 1 million PKR (USD 4000 approx) for showing a slogan supporting ex-Pakistan PM and 1992 World Cup winning captain Imran Khan. The all-rounder had turned up for a practice session during home Tests against England last year with "804" written on the underside of his floppy hat. Notably, "804" is the prisoner number for Imran, who has been in prison since August 2023, and using this number has been a popular mode of showing support for Imran by his supporters. Naseem will be in action today when his team takes on the Peshawar Zalmi. (ANI)
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