Former Pakistan pacer Sikandar Bakht has lashed out at captain Mohammad Rizwan and other top cricketers for refusing to playing the National T20 Championship. This comes after Rizwan opted to play club cricket rather than participate in the National T20 Cup. Bakht feels the players are employees of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) and they should participate in every competition organised by the board. The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the players are not being paid Rs 60 lakh per month to play club cricket.
"They are employees of the Pakistan Cricket Board. They get 60 lakh per month, so they must play in the tournaments the PCB is organising. The buck stops with PCB. They have to make sure that players are available," Bakht said during a discussion on Geo News.
Bakht also suggested PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi to strip them off central contracts.
"This shouldn't happen. Mohsin Naqvi needs to be strict. He comes off as a polite person, but he needs to change his ways. You have to ask what is happening. Be strict. Stop their central contracts," he added.
Rizwan, instead, was spotted on Sunday playing a club cricket match in Peshawar as photographs of him playing no-look shots were highlighted on social media.
Rizwan, who normally makes it a point to play in domestic cricket when there are no international commitments, has apparently opted to play club cricket as he recently returned after performing Umrah in Mecca and wants to relax before going to New Zealand for the three-match ODI series.
Apart from Rizwan, the likes of Babar Azam and Naseem Shah also skipped Pakistan's National T20 Championship initially.
However, the duo featured for Lahore Blues in their match against Karachi Whites on Tuesday. However, both had tough outings on return to domestic cricket.
As per Cricket Pakistan, Babar opened the batting for Lahore Blues in their second match of the T20 tournament, scoring just 22 runs off 17 balls, including three boundaries.
Naseem, on the other hand, had a challenging day with the ball. He gave away 41 runs in his four overs and failed to take a wicket.
Rizwan, Babar and Naseem were all dropped by the national selectors for the ongoing five-match T20 series in New Zealand with a new-look Pakistan side losing the first game by nine wickets.
The trio will be back in action for the upcoming ODIs vs New Zealand.
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