Former Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Najam Sethi took a dig at Prime Minister Imran Khan through twitter, after it was announced that various Sri Lankan players had opted out of the proposed Sri Lanka tour of Pakistan which is scheduled for this month. Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) officials however have clarified that a team will still be sent for the tour.
Sethi took to twitter, to mock the current Prime Minister for his comments on international players who took part in the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) Pakistan Super League (PSL) in 2017.
“Imran Khan should guide the PCB on how to make sure Sri Lanka doesn’t send a “Relukata” team to Pakistan!” Sethi tweeted.
@ImranKhanPTI should guide @TheRealPCB on how to make sure Sri Lanka doesnt send a “Relukata” team to Pakistan!
— Najam Sethi (@najamsethi) September 10, 2019
The former Chairman, who is widely credited with bringing international cricket back to Pakistan, received criticism for bringing in second tier players for the HBL PSL final in 2017 which was held in Lahore.
Khan, in a video, called the international players ‘phateechar’, ‘rallukatta’ and ‘from Africa’. The former World Cup winning captain believed that these second tier players could have been called to play in the country regardless of the security conditions.
These terms were classified as derogatory and racist during the time. Khan received a significant amount of backlash for the comments and had to justify his stance accordingly.
Sethi’s comments come at a time when the PCB is still striving to get international cricketers to play in the country.
