PCB Denies Reports Of Players Being Unhappy Due To Disparity In Prize Money
Jul 22, 2017 at 12:56 PM
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has rubbished claims that a disparity in prize money for the Champions Trophy-winning players have made them unhappy. Sarfraz Ahmed & Co. have been showered with prizes ever since beating India in the final in England last month to win the coveted title but controversy and Pakistan cricket go hand in hand and the last few weeks have not been an exception either.
Several Pakistan media outlets reported that Pakistani players had walked out of a function held in their honour at the Centuraus shopping mall in Islamabad after the organisers announced a different amount for the players. While skipper Sarfraz Ahmed was gifted a plot of land and Fakhar Zaman, who had scored a century in the final, a was given a cash award of 500,000 rupees, the other players were given 200,000 rupees each. This reportedly miffed the players and they walked out of the function.
Video footage on Duniya news channel and later other clips on the social media showed some players walking out of the ceremony with reports claiming the players returned their cheques. However, Reza Ketchlew, who was the media manager of the team in the Champions Trophy, rubbished all the reports.
“I was there with the team for the function which was officially approved by the board. There was no walkout by the players and neither does any player have any issue or disagreement with the awards given to them and Sarfraz and Fakhar Zaman,” Ketchlew said.
“It is totally incorrect that players returned their cheques or walked out. After all the players including Sarfraz and Zaman were called on stage and given their awards, they came down and were seated at tables near the podium. But when the organizers called the team up for a photograph pandemonium broke loose as many in the crowd also started gathering on the podium. The management than decided to just send Sarfraz on stage for the photograph and it was also decided it was best for safety of players,” he added.