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Dasti summoned by President Zardari over outburst
Saturday, 17 Oct, 2009Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, Chairman Standing Committee on Sports, chairing the committee meeting at Parliament House in Islamabad.—APP/File
ISLAMABAD: Patron of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) President Asif Ali Zardari has summoned the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports Chairman Jamshed Ahmed Dasti for a grilling session over having accused the Pakistan cricket team of ‘deliberately losing’ the pool match against Australia in order to push India out of the ICC Champions Trophy, Dawn learnt on authority on Friday.
Mr Dasti, a PPP legislator, has remained a stark critic of the national cricket team’s performance in the recent event. His statement over the matter added fuel to the already started fire of match fixing allegations involving the national squad.
The Indian media, too, later on carried Mr Dasti’s statement as an important cricket-related story.
However, Pakistan team Coach Intikhab Alam has dubbed the news item as a malicious propaganda engineered by the Indian media against the Pakistan cricket team.
‘He [Mr Dasti] has been summoned by the PCB patron-in-chief regarding his outburst against the team as his statement has badly affected the morale of the players while damaging team spirit,’ a senior official, close to the development, told Dawn on Friday.
The NA body had earlier summoned PCB’s top brass including team captain Younis Khan to explain their reasons for having lost the match against the Aussies in the Champions Trophy.
A disgusted Younis had even decided to quit as captain of the team as a result of being questioned over the matter in addition to the continuous criticism on his role as a captain in the media but he later withdrew his resignation.
The NA committee in its meeting also accepted the explanation given by the national coach and the skipper.
‘The Federal Sports Minister Pir Aftab Shah Jilani will also attend the meeting in order to lend his support to the players and the PCB,’ the official said about the forthcoming meeting with the President of Pakistan.
‘The stance of the sports ministry is very clear as Mr Dasti did not have any solid evidence regarding the accusations he levelled against the national squad.
‘The match against Australia was played till the last ball so there can be no question of throwing the match and even the Aussies have acknowledged our performance in the crucial fixture,’ he pointed out.
‘The forthcoming meeting would also give the PCB some respite from the mounting pressure from legislators on the players while also strengthening the role of the Sports Ministry.
However, one legislator, on the condition of anonymity, said: ‘Younis’s resignation was not really called for as the NA body never expected such an aggressive and emotional move from a man of his [Younis’s] stature.
‘We never intended grilling the officials, specifically not the players. We only wanted to show them the right way,’ he said while adding that the NA body always extends positive suggestions to sports federations and institutions.
‘We have the right to summon any sports official and player and will use the forum to bring in more transparency and betterment to the sports structure of the country,’ he concluded.
DAWN.COM | Cricket | Dasti summoned by President Zardari over outburst
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