Unexpectedly, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has voiced its displeasure with current national T20 skipper Shaheen Shah Afridi and previous captain Babar Azam over their recent fan interaction sessions on the social networking site ‘X’.
Fans’ favorite athletes, both, held Q&A sessions on ‘X,’ which attracted a lot of engagement. Over 20,000 fans attended Babar Azam’s session, which was quite successful; Shaheen Shah Afridi‘s session drew about 4,000 attendees. The PCB doesn’t seem to be happy about this development, though.
The cricket board did not approve of the plan to have these social media sessions, according to a PCB source, especially considering that it appeared the players’ representatives were behind the arrangement.
The source, cited by the Times of India, stated, “The PCB will look to revisit some of the clauses that the centrally contracted players need to adhere to.”
Speculation has been expressed about how these open Q&A sessions could lead to needless controversy. Since last year, there has been a point of disagreement between the PCB and players about social media usage and NOCs for foreign T20 leagues.
“The clauses covering the social media activities of contracted players are now being reviewed again by the board because it is concerned that such public Q&A sessions could result in unnecessary controversies,” he stated.
Now, the recently appointed chairman is looking for information regarding central contracts.
The PCB leadership turnover, which has resulted in a fourth chairman taking over since December 2022, further complicates issues. According to the source, there is unclear communication between players, their agents, and the board as a result of this leadership transition.
“Every PCB chairman has tried to run the board in his own way and, in some cases, even ignored the written clauses of the central contracts and given special permissions to players in the past 12 months,” said a source.
The recently appointed Chairman, Mohsin Naqvi, is now requesting information regarding central contracts, player interview transcripts, and the last few months’ worth of social media posts.
“Naqvi clearly wants a revised media policy for players and for this, the PCB could revise some clauses of the central contracts,” said the source.
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