NAUDERO, Sindh, Chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Zaka Ashraf, visited last evening the under-construction international stadium at Garhi Khuda Bux Bhutto along with the members of PCB Board of Governors including Javed Miandad, Subhan Ahmed, Badar Manzoor, Intekhab Alam and others.
On this occasion they announced establishment of a cricket academy in Larkana where talented cricket players of Sindh will get training.
Zaka Ashraf said that for this purpose a coach will also be appointed here who will provide training to the players so that they could be inducted into the national cricket team.
Talking to Media after visiting the stadium he said that his visit to India was beneficial for both countries’ cricket. He said that due to law & order situation in the country foreign teams are not willing to play cricket in Pakistan. He said that Bangladesh team did not arrive only because of the fact that Punjab government dismantled the boundary walls of the Gadhafi stadium and issued wrong statements for which PCB has gone to the court.
He further said that cricket is a game and should be treated like a game and it should not be used for political purposes.
Zaka further said that Pakistan’s defeat in three matches against Sri Lanka is a part of the game and there is no politics in the cricket team.
Match fixing era has come to an end and there is now no question of it.
After visiting Garhi Khuda Bux the PCB Board of Governors meeting took place at Naudero Sugar Mills in which the on-going work on the stadium was also discussed. The Chairman showed his anger over the delay and quality of the work. PCB Consultant told the meeting that 40% earth filling work has been completed so far.
The contractor Ashraf told the meeting that phase-1 has been completed and work on phase-2 is going on and attributed the delay to non-availability of required funds.
The PCB members also visited the Bhutto graves and laid floral wreaths and offered Prayers. Floral wreath was also laid at the grave of PPP founder Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto.
