ISLAMABAD - The Faysal Bank Twenty20 Tournament for Regions ended with a big bang and remained the successful as pack to capacity crowd was witnessed during the 11-day event.
In the recent past, there were hardly few people in the grounds when the last event was held in Karachi, but the sheer love and passion for cricket forced Pindi and Islamabad residents to come to the stadium in quite a few numbers, despite the fact that local team Rawalpindi Rams was out at the very first hurdle when they failed to make it to the quarterfinals stage but the crowd never turned their back and cheered for every team.
But the tournament left many questions to be answered by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). First of all, PCB media department issued media accreditation cards in bulks, therefore, non-sports journalists were seen roaming around the media center which was presenting a look of fish market, especially during the lunch and tea intervals. There was hardly any seat available for genuine sports journalists, who wanted to cover the event. Only two computers were installed and both were outdated. There was a mess as internet service was too bad to use especially during the peak hours when reporters wanted to file stories, but they were left hapless.
Despite several requests made to the PCB PRO Shakeel Khan, all the requests fall on deaf ears, as he was the only representative from the board while none of the top PCB guns gave importance to this mega event and were busy in other important areas to look after.
When contacted Shakeel Khan for his version, he said: “
The PCB had appointed Major (r) Nadeem Sadle as tournament chairman, a person who had no previous experience of organising such a high-profile event before, but was given the assignment on the backing of powerful interim committee member Shakil Shaikh.
Sadle is the same person, who termed Sethi's removal as his victory, but suddenly he changed his loyalties to get not only that favour, but also eyeing an important role in next Rawalpindi Region set up. He is almost guaranteed to get that slot for having backing of Shakil Shaikh, who is maneuvering things at both Rawalpindi and Islamabad. Few days back, local cricketers and club organisers had staged a protest demonstration against Shakil Shakih and blocked Murree Road and his effigy was also burnt for his outburst against past legends.
Just because of Sadle, a number of people were deprived of watching the mega event, as he kept the passes and VIP tickets with him and never bother to give them to journalists but obliged only his near and dear ones. The tickets were also blacked and passes were torched, but not given to the kids and female spectators who waited for hours to get entry into the stadium. They had to face humiliation at the hands of local police, but no one bothered to address their grievances.
The PCB must conduct an inquiry in this regard and ensure culprits must be taken to the task as they brought a bad name for the board and accommodated local administration and high-profile persons, while the ticket holders were left to face baton charge of police. After realising the situation, high police officials, who were busy in photo session with top national players, rushed to the site and restored law and order.
The PCB must ensure in future local police services must not be hired, as they start dictating terms and only allow persons who have relation with high officials or bribed them, which deprive genuine people to get into the stadium.
The PCB Director Domestic Cricket had given assurances that the standard of umpiring would be exceptional during the event while talking to this scribe before the start of the event, but as per expectations, it was quite ordinary umpiring witnessed during the entire event. There was hardly any match in which one or two bad decisions were not committed. The PCB should have used technology which was very much available, as bad decisions cost every team dearly, especially Abbottabad Falcons had to suffer the most as they were eliminated in the semifinals. Falcon’s premier batsman Yasir Hameed was given out on a wayward delivery. The PCB must work on this particular area and try to keep a close check and balance on domestic umpiring, as there were a lot of complaints in the past regarding poor standard of umpiring, who use to give dubious decisions to favour some particular teams.