da cassino： Has the PCB saved cricket from Shoaib or deprived it of him for the next five years?
da gbg bet： 04-Apr-2008
Is this the end of the long and turbulent road for Shoaib? © AFP
“Tell me how many players in world cricket have been banned for five years on discipline charges? Previous incidents of indiscipline should have been dealt with at the time instead of being allowed to accumulate.”
“Disappointing is no word to describe Akhtar’s ban, I would call it pathetic and request the new political government to sack the Nasim Ashraf-led PCB.”
“I don’t think the board has done anything wrong by banning Shoaib Akhtar. I am sure the PCB has taken his past record into consideration before banning him … It’s not right on Shoaib’s part to approach the media.”
“Personally, I wouldn’t have banned him. I’d have made him earn his international place back by playing domestic cricket.”
Pakistan coach “The PCB should have supported Akhtar more because there have been characters like Akhtar – there was John McEnroe in tennis and our own Aamer Sohail – who were temperamental yet talented and gave sports a lot to cheer.”
“I can tell you with all honesty that there was no ulterior motive involved in the ban. It was a situation where we had to decide how much longer could we allow Shoaib Akhtar to keep on violating discipline and work ethic.”
“Shoaib shot himself in the foot and there’s nobody else to blame. Something like this was waiting to happen and there’s a very clear sequence to Shoaib’s self-destruction.”
“Just like a child, Shoaib too has a very low tolerance level. He should first think before saying or doing stuff. Shoaib needs to be mature and get married too.”
“I feel sorry for Shoaib, but it is also true he has been involved in many disciplinary cases. However, I would like to add here that it is the result of the PCB’s leniency towards Shoaib’s past blunders. His [latest] offence is not that grave, as several Pakistan Test cricketers in the past have done this type of wrong act repeatedly and got away with it.”
“I think after me now the board has targeted Shoaib Akhtar. Their next targets are Mohammad Yousuf and Shahid Afridi.”
“I think the matter has gone too far. This whole issue is damaging for Pakistancricket so I hope that a compromise is reached.”
“His USP is his aggression. All these things keep on happening. We should take things in the right spirit.