‘Behave Yourself’, Akhtar fumes after tour ‘call off threat’ in New Zealand

KARACHI   –  Shoaib Akhtar is fuming at New Zealand Cricket (NZC) after the visiting Pakistan team was given a ‘final warning’ to adhere to the COVID-19 protocols or their tour will be called off. 

Six Pakistan cricketers tested positive for COVID-19on Thursday and Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) CEO Wasim Khan told his team that there have been three-four breaches of protocols and if they commit another one, they will be sent back home. 

Commenting on the NZC’s tour call off warning, the former Pakistan pacer said their comments were below the belt. “I want to tell this to New Zealand and their cricket board that this is not a club team, it is Pakistan’s national team. How can you send out such a statement that you will call off the tour? We don’t need you; our cricket is not finished and we are not desperate for money,” he said. 

The former pacer also said that the NZC should be indebted to Pakistan team for coming to their country to play in such testing times. “The money from broadcasting rights will go to you, not us. So, you should be indebted to us for coming to play in these testing times,” he added. 

Upset with the warning being thrown at Pakistan team for not adhering to Standard Operating Procedures, Akhtar asked the NZC to stop giving such statements. “You are talking about Pakistan, so behave yourself and stop giving this sort of statements. Be careful of what you say, next time,” he added.  

Akhtar advised the NZC to behave in a polite manner and not issue such strident remarks for Pakistan, a country which he hailed as the ‘greatest nation on the planet’. He asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to show some spine by calling off the New Zealand tour and severe cricketing ties with the nation for the next five years.

Akhtar also trained guns at the PCB, faulting them for not arranging a chartered flight for sending Pakistani players to New Zealand. He claimed that during the tour of England, players were sent on chartered flights but this time around, they had to board commercial flights, travel to Dubai first, then to Kuala Lumpur and from there to Auckland.