
Karachi, October 19: Pakistan Cricket Board PCB Chief Lt Gen Tauqir Zia struck a defiant posture against International Cricket Council ICC on Thursday, saying he would protect the six Pakistani players censured and fined by the Board even if the world body called for a life-ban on them.
8220;The ICC is nobody to tell PCB that these six players cannot play. We will play them whenever we want. They8217;ll only be dropped on performance and nothing else,8221; the daily Dawn quoted him as having said.
These six players, including Wasim Akram and Ata-ur-Rahman, were punished on the recommendation of Justice Malik Mohammed Qayyum, who went into allegations of match-fixing.
Lt Gen Zia said, 8220;I am not trying to make a confrontation with ICC, but the fact is that these players are in our control. If we want them to play, they will play and will only get out on performance.8221;
On the recent rebellion of six members of the current Pakistani team against the coach Javed Miandad, Zia said the issue had been defused. He, however, said, 8220;There is a general complaint that Miandad doesn8217;t leave a pat on the back of the batsman who scores runs or pacifies someone who has been given a wrong decision. But these are small things and can be resolved without making them public.8221;
Zia said Waqar Younis had complaints over being ignored for the semi-final against New Zealand in the ICC Knock-out tournament in Nairobi. 8220;I also feel the same, but I think it was the team management8217;s decision.8221;