Pakistani Spinner Lands in Hot Waters After Praising MS Dhoni

Legendary off spinner, Saqlain Mushtaq is facing the wrath of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for an unforgivable offence. What is that offence you say? It is for none other than praising former Indian captain MS Dhoni who recently announced his retirement.

Mushtaq as per the video above was fairly vocal of the treatment that was given to Dhoni at the hands of our very own BCCI. As per Mushtaq, a player at the calibre of MS Dhoni deserved a proper farewell game, an idea that was also flagged by former Indian fast bowler Irfan Pathan.

While a noble step taken by our fellow neighbour, it has no doubt ruffled the wrong feathers in Pakistan and has invited a warning from PCB. As per a trusted source, it has come to my knowledge that the PCB did not like one of their former players meddling in matters related Indian cricket.

PCB has gone as far as to advise national cricketers to refrain from commenting on Indian athletes mainly due to the hostility observed between the two nations.

The source had the following to say as quoted by India Today “The PCB was not impressed by Saqlain for over the board praise of Dhoni and his obvious interference in Indian cricket affairs when he criticized the BCCI for not giving Dhoni a proper farewell match,”

As per the source “Many of these coaches were managing their channels on Youtube but have now been told clearly that since they are employees of the board they can’t work on Youtube and secondly even while giving interviews in the media they have to first seek clear permission from the board.

“Obviously they are employed with the board and they have been told they have to either follow terms of their contract and service rules or decide what they want to do,” the source added.

As Saqlain Mushtaq serves as the head of International Players Development, he should have taken permission from PCB before airing some comments.

Regardless of what you make of this story, one thing is clear that the retirement of MS Dhoni is being felt across the globe and is something that must be taken into consideration by the BCCI. Our Indian board should look to organise a farewell match not just for this legend but many also many who have retired before him that deserve a better send off!