He Pakistan Cricket Board found itself in the line of fire after a tribute video, lauding the nation’s cricket heroes, posted on August 14, backfired. The Pakistan team’s fans, having failed to spot the 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan in the video, actively expressed their dissatisfaction on social media. In little time, #ShameOnPCB started to trend on X (formerly Twitter) while some former cricketers, including the legendary Wasim Akram, also criticised the board for the video.
The public displeasure prompted the PCB to change the video and publish a new one featuring Imran Khan. As fans welcomed the move from the board, former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi took a dig at the board, saying ‘politics’ should never be mixed with cricket.
“This is a great promotional campaign for CWC 2023 now. Services of our heroes in the cricket fraternity should never be impacted by any political stances,” Afridi posted, taking a swipe at the board for involving ‘politics’ in cricket.
“The PCB has launched a promotional campaign leading up to the CWC 2023. One of the videos was uploaded on 14th August 2023. Due to its length, the video was abridged and some important clips were missing. This has been rectified in the complete version of the video,” the PCB wrote on X (formerly Twitter) while sharing the new video.
Imran Khan had famously led the Pakistan team to the 1992 World Cup triumph. While his achievements on the field have a big place in Pakistan’s cricket history, his political career has seen him being portrayed in a negative light too.
