United Pakistan Cricket Team divided by monetary issues post CT victory

If reports are the be believed, rifts within the Pakistan Cricket Team post their historic Champions Trophy win in England have started to surface due to monetary issues. Post-Champions Trophy, the news of Pakistani players being awarded large sums of money has become a common phenomenon. But the growing levels of biases towards some player, according to the values has created cracks within the team.

Pakistan, who have had a terrible history when it comes to unity within the team, cleaned off their tainted slate to exhibit great camaraderie and spirit to lift the coveted Champions Trophy. Mickey Arthur regime has helped Pakistan Cricket leaps and bounds by restricting rifts due to politics in the team. Arthur dictated that no senior player is allowed to dispense advice to the skipper unless asked. The captain is the superior decision maker and holds responsibility for every move he makes.

This time, it is wealth and money which is causing friction within the seemingly united Pakistan Cricket team. Besides the honour of holding the coveted Trophy, the Pakistani players received a bumper amount of 2.2 million dollars (around 220 million rupees) as cash reward from the ICC. The Board decided to distribute the wealth amongst the players as PCB received its participation amount of 125,000 USD from the Council. This was just the start of the wealth downpour.

Additionally, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) announced that each and every player in the squad would receive an amount of Rs 1 million as a reward for the historic win. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is alleged for corruption charges and Marie Antoinettesque lifestyle, announced that an additional amount of 10 million each to the players. Many within the masses accused the PM of squandering tax money to the players as they thought the hard earned money levied from the people could have been utilised to mend the damage done by the Bahawalpur oil tanker blitz.

The beginning

The inception of cracks started after the BOL Networks’ proposition to their spirited captain Sarfraz Ahmed, who played an integral part in the Pakistan win in the tournament. The Network singled out the captain while ignoring the rest by offering an amount of 10 million more and substantial amount of share in the channel. However, Ahmed professionally averted the situation by demanding equal shares for the other players.

That said, Sarfraz could not dodge the bigger bullet on his way as the cracks started to grow by the proposition made by real estate business tycoon and founder of Bahria Town, Malik Riaz Hussain’s rewards at their function. After spending a modest amount of a million on all the players, the owners displayed special affections for their captain and Fakhar Zaman, who became an overnight sensation of the country post his heroics in the tournament coming from anonymity. As if the amounts were not enough, the property lynchpins offered a canal plot each to Zaman and Sarfraz.

After the announcement was made, the rest of the players in the squad also expected their share of land but ended up only to be disappointed. The apparent resentment towards the duo was visible, especially after the Centaurus Mall owners function. The owners awarded a sum of 500,000 to Zaman and a canal plot to Sarfraz while others could only manage an amount of 200,000. The players were irked about the whole bias and were left fuming at the turn of events. They boycotted the function, refused to be a part of the group photo and left the function on the pretext of mismanagement.

The Hashoo Group Function

The entire fiasco was also fuelled due to proposals at the Hashoo Group function. Zaman and Safraz were handed an amount of 500,000 while the rest received 200,000. According to reports from ARY Sports, PCB is not excited about the consequences post-Champions Trophy win and have intended to speak to the players regarding the issue. The only feasible solution on this matter is to put an end to these functions and only send few players in them rather than the entire Pakistan Cricket Team.

After years of battle, on and off the field, Pakistan Cricket is finally able to witness a dusk which would revolutionise their cricket. Pakistan now has all the three ICC titles (92 World Cup, 2009 T20World Cup and 2017 Champions Trophy). The aim now should be consolidation until the ICC World Cup of 2019 which would be held on the same grounds as in Champions Trophy, rather than creating rifts which would hamper the overall atmosphere in the team, which Pakistan Cricket Team has had a reputation for.