Ahmed Shehzad bashes PCB, claims Champions One-Day Cup construct upon favoritism & false guarantees

Pakistan cricketer Ahmed Shehzad has expressed his unhappiness with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The batter who’s represented his country in 153 matches has decided that he’ll boycott the Champions One-Day Cup, the 50-over tournament, which is PCB’s latest innovation.

The competition will feature 150 players, and five teams (Stallions, Lions, Dolphins, Panthers and Wolves) will run from September 12 to 29 at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium. PCB’s vision is to make the Champions One-Day Cup as big as the Pakistan Super League (PSL), although it’s in a different format.

Shehzad, however, isn’t too pleased with the board. He feels that the tournament is based on false promises. The PCB has hired former cricketers as mentors for each of these five teams and is paying them a good amount of money. Shehzad also added that the board is disrespectful to domestic players but didn’t add how and why.

“With a heavy heart, I’ve decided not to play in the Domestic Cricket Champions Cup. The PCB’s favoritism, false promises, and injustice towards domestic players are unacceptable. In a time when Pakistan is struggling with inflation, poverty, and massive electricity bills, the PCB is wasting 5 million Rs on mentors for doing nothing and rewarding failed players in the current team who brought Pakistan cricket to an All-time Low. It’s even more disrespectful that the PCB claims they don’t have ‘instruments for surgery’ which is a huge disrespect for domestic players. As a Pakistani and true cricket lover, I cannot support a system that has no value for merit. I refuse to be a part of this failed setup.”