LAHORE: Newly-appointed Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Ramiz Raja has advised the country’s cricketers to channel their frustration into their performance after New Zealand’s last-minute decision to abandon series.
“Release your frustration and anger by channeling it towards your performance,” the PCB Chairman said in a video message released by the cricket board on Saturday, as he tried to boost the spirits of fans and cricketers.
Ramiz Raja continued, “When you become a world-class team, people will start lining up to play,” adding, “Everyone will want to play against you. So I want us to learn from this, move forward and keep strong. There is no need to be disappointed.”
“The cancellation has piled up pressure on Pakistan’s cricket and cricket at home, but we will try to do everything we can and give you some good news,” he said, adding that he had recorded the message for his fans, terming their hurt “shared pain”.
Raja said it was an unfortunate scenario, but it is not the first that such an incident has happened. “Pakistan’s cricket has always moved forward because we are resilient — and it is the fans who enable us,” he added.
He said if there is a situation where international cricket was under pressure in Pakistan, ‘we will overcome it’. “Even if we don’t manage to overcome it, we have enough confidence that we can create a world-class team while playing at a domestic level,” he added.
The PCB chairman also urged the fans to stand behind and support the Pakistan team ahead of the upcoming ICC T20 World Cup.
On Friday, the New Zealand cricket team had backed out of its tour of Pakistan over security concerns minutes before the first match was scheduled to start at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium — a move that had shocked fans and officials.
The PCB, in a statement, said that the NZC told them that they had decided to postpone the series due to some security concern and it is their unilateral decision.
“The Pakistan Prime Minister spoke personally to the Prime Minister of New Zealand and informed her that we have one of the best intelligence systems in the world and that no security threat of any kind exists for the visiting team,” the PCB said.
