The Pakistan Cricket Board has put former batsman Basit Ali’s appointment for a coaching assignment on hold and sought an explanation from him for suggesting that India would intentionally lose matches to knock Pakistan out of the recent World Cup.
Ali’s appointment as regional coach in Karachi has been held up after the Board had second thoughts about appointing him.
“The board, in fact, conveyed to Basit in clear terms that since he was a Test player and working for them on assignments he should explain and avoid his reckless comments on television,” the source said.
Basit had claimed that India would lose intentionally to England and other teams to keep Pakistan out of the semifinals which caused a furore. Pakistan were knocked out of the megaevent’s league stage.
“The PCB found itself in an embarrassing situation because of the reckless comments by Basit which were without any evidence or substance as internationally this hurt the image of Pakistan cricket,” the source stated.
“The thing is that the PCB now has second thoughts about Basit as Karachi regional coach and wondering that if they appoint him what impression this will ceate internationally since Pakistan is a senior member of the International Cricket Council,” he added.
