Shaharyar brushes off rumours Zimbabweans were bribed to tou

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vikas
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Shaharyar brushes off rumours Zimbabweans were bribed to tou

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Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan has rubbished allegations that they bribed the Zimbabwean players to tour Pakistan for a short limited-overs series last month.

Shaharyar has that while it had paid around $500,000 to Zimbabwe Cricket (ZC) to cover their expenses for the tour but was quick to add that it was unfortunate there had been talk about players being bribed to tour Pakistan.

“That [allegation of bribing Zimbabwe players] is not true as the tour was approved by both boards and just yesterday our prime minister sent a message of thanks to Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe for allowing his team to tour Pakistan,” the PCB chief stated.

“In such a scenario, there is no question of bribing players,” he insisted.

Zimbabwe was the first Test side to tour Pakistan in six years after other boards refused to send their teams because of security concerns following the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team in March 2009 in Lahore.

The Zimbabwe tour was a spectacular success as the two T20 matches and three ODIs drew full houses and Shaharyar said the PCB had also ended up making profits.

“The response of the people was enough for us and vindicated our stance that international cricket needs to be revived in Pakistan,” the PCB chief said.

A reliable source in the PCB told PTI that of the total amount given by the PCB to Zimbabwe cricket they had paid their players $12,500 each.

Shaharyar also made it clear that since the Zimbabwe tour was not part of the Future Tours Programme (FTP) and a one-off engagement in future the PCB had no intention to make concessions for touring teams.

“The tour by Zimbabwe was an exception as we were keen to host an international and in return we will tour there in August,” he said.

He said basically the series was on bilateral terms. “We are making every effort to revive proper international cricket in Pakistan and we have approached other boards after the Zimbabwe team’s visit to send their teams to our country as we capable of providing them the best security,” the PCB chairman added.

“The visit by Zimbabwe has given us confidence and we will build on the success of the tour. I am sure lot of perceptions about playing in Pakistan will have changed after this tour,” he said.

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