Islamabad, Feb 18: Pakistan’s Army chief Field Marshal Asim Munir has conveyed his displeasure to Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif regarding the state of affairs of the country’s cricket board.The army chief raised this issue after Pakistan’s humiliating defeat against India in the ongoing T20 World Cup. Pakistan faced a humiliating defeat against India in the match that was played on February 15.
Munir was, in particular, critical about the way in which Mohsin Naqvi, chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, was running the show. Munir complained to Sharif that Naqvi had invoked the army during one of his interactions with the media.
“He is all talk and no show,” the army chief said of Naqvi. Naqvi’s statement, in which he said that “Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir never gets scared,” is what has ticked off the army chief. He feels that he has invoked the army and portrayed a very strong image of the institution. Naqvi, however, could not live up to the hype as the Pakistan cricket team suffered a humiliating defeat against India yet again. Officials say that in Pakistan, cricket is a religion, as is the case in India. The people do not take too kindly to their team losing.
However, the loss against India is something that hurts the people’s national pride. The people, too, have been complaining about the way in which the team has been playing. They are, in particular, critical of Naqvi for the way in which he is running the board. Naqvi was also in the news during the Asia Cup when the Indian team refused to take the winning trophy from him. Naqvi left the ground with the cup and has yet to return it. This, too, has not gone down too well with both experts and fans. They felt that he should have just left the trophy behind.