Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Shaka Frankly I am amazed that the PCB have shot themselves in the foot over such a scenario. Pakistan were under no legal obligation to punish their frontline strike bowlers, and considering how Shane Warne is still universally considered a hero despite contending that he was just providing Indian bookies with a "weather forecast" during the match-fixing scandal of recent past, Pakistan were under no moral obligation either. |
If the PCB were or were not under legal obligation to punish those is irrelevant, because they were certainly under moral obligation! What Australia did to Shane Warne is quite irrelevant to this Shaka. Who considers whom their hero is a matter of personal opinion, I'm sure there are people out there who still consider Shoaib a hero, its their choice, but that doesn't mean the PCB have a responsibility to go out of their way as a governing body of cricket in the region to protect the supposed hero image of Shoaib or indeed any other player.
If the Australian Cricket Board thought this was their duty when Warne and the whole match fixing sage came up, then that is something that reflects as their incorrect principles not as something that should be the way to go about. The PCB had no responsbility either to follow their bad example, they did, and still do, however have the responsibility of making sure no one violates the rules of the game or consider him above the rules and expect that he will get away with doing whatever he wants (something that Shoaib is seemingly in a habit of doing).
It was being reported that Shehreyar Khan, the previous head of the PCB did speculate he had fears about Shoaib possibly abusing drugs. Of course he did not clarify why he and his administration, if they had these fears, do something about them. That was a responsibility they had. It was both a legal and moral responsiblity. They did not fulfil it. And I had decent opinion of Shehreyar and his time at the helm, but I've lost quite a lot of respect for him now.
We should be pleased the current administration (with it all its flaws) has at least not repeated one of the mistakes of the previous one. And I'm by now means a die hard fan of Naseem Ashraf, some of the things he's said/done since he's come (like sacking Mushtaq from his position of assistant coach, claiming he'll clear up the PCB and hire new people based on merit when he him self has been hand picked by Musharaff because he's one of his faithful tail wagers <talk about hypocrisy
>, asking the team to tone down their religious practices, etc etc, I could go on for a bit you know) have completely defied all logic and outraged me no end. The man is a complete Mushy clone, but credit where its due nevertheless.
They've handled this well. Anyone suggesting anything to the contrary is just being overcome by their goodwill for the team, because of the repercussions this will have, which I am too sad about too, but it was more important that the right precedent be set.
13-11-2006, 01:43 PM
in reply to Zainub's post starting "If the PCB were or were not under legal..." 
Linear Mode
