Time to stop the former cricketer Sarfraz Nawaz who continues his crusade against imaginary enemies at the PCB 

By Amir Husain (27th March, 2015)

I have a confession to make.

As a kid starting to watching cricket in the early '70s I like many of my contemporaries, was into hero worship.

In those days, we had only radio and newspapers to rely upon to tell us about how our 'heroes' were doing on overseas tours or even here in Pakistan.

To be able to catch a glimpse of Imran Khan driving on a road in Lahore or watching Asif Iqbal eat biryani at a wedding in Karachi were considered lifelong achievements!

All this is different now. Thanks to the non-stop TV talk-shows and social media updates, not a day passes by when we don't learn something new about many personalities. We are able to thus very quickly make a good judgement about what they are and what they actually stand for.

Sarfraz Nawaz was my hero in the old days I speak of. I loved the way he would look to take on the other teams and I idolized his aggression and attitude. Big 'Saf' would show anyone that ever challenged Pakistan what we were made of.

In recent times though, he has become a bit of a joke. An eye-sore in TV terms. His constant harping about sinister forces at play every time he sees a result he doesn't like has moved from the mildly amusing to the incessant chatter category.

In short, I like many others, pay little attention to this man and his thoughts. Sarfraz is now slowly moving to a constantly ignored voice or image on TV. Whether he is accusing players of throwing games or commenting on the sartorial elegance of Misbah-ul-Haq, no one really cares.

What is more alarming is that some TV channels are providing this man a platform to spout rubbish on a daily basis. And more disturbing is the irreparable harm that players and personalities sharing the air-time with Sarfraz are doing to themselves.

Someone like Saeed Ajmal who is a contracted player with the PCB is merrily busy nodding his head when Sarfraz comes up with his latest controversial theory. One fails to understand why Ajmal is not aware of the damage being done to the reputation of Pakistan cricket and indeed to his own employer, the PCB.

Even more puzzling is why the PCB would allow this to happen unchallenged whilst any other employer would have simply withdrawn any permissions given to take part in such forums.

There are many things that we dont really understand about the PCB and its workings. But this issue needs to be addressed immediately. Granted that the World Cup will soon be over and the TV channels will go back to their regular schedules of mud-slinging and news creation, but the PCB needs to set the precedent for the conduct of players for the future as well.

As for Sarfraz Nawaz, I will continue to admire his past and loathe his current persona.

Discuss!