Pakistan’s fast bowling superstar Shoaib Akhtar seems to have timed his protest against his five-year ban imposed by the Pakistan Cricket Board just right, says former Pakistan captain Asif Iqbal in the News.
I agree with the majority of opinion that seems to think that a five-year ban on Shoaib is excessive and out of proportion for the offence that he was hauled up for on this occasion. True, that his record has a lot more than this or any one offence, but since the ban has come following the last offence, which was of criticising the board, the perception inevitably is that this is the offence for which he has been punished.
To that extent, the punishment is draconian; the act of criticising the Board does certainly not merit anything as drastic as what is for all practical purposes, a life ban. In fact, such a punishment may have been considered befitting if it was imposed after the drugs scandal or after the incident in which Shoaib was alleged to hit teammate Mohammad Asif with a bat in the dressing room.
These were much bigger misdemeanours and a ban, if imposed following these offences, would be more difficult to agitate against. But this was not the right time for such a drastic punishment; the crime simply did not fit it.
That said, Shoaib’s outburst against the Board and its Chairman is equally wrong. His claim that he is being punished for being a loyal Pakistani only qualifies as an utter load of rubbish, for by insinuation all those who are not punished — which includes the overwhelming majority of cricketers — are not loyal Pakistanis, and those who have inflicted the punishment on him are not either.
