LAHORE: The Pakis­tan Cricket Board (PCB) on Tuesday abruptly announced the postponement of the National U-19 Inter-region Cricket Tournament following the opening days’ play of the first round of three-day matches, which had commenced across the country’s regional centres.

In a short press release, hours after the announcement, the PCB said the decision was taken “due to unavoidable circumstances.” The board did not respond when Dawn reached out for a detailed explanation.

The event was featuring 18 teams — one each from 14 regions and two apiece from Lahore and Karachi — and the officials of the sides received the PCB’s postponement orders after they had seen their players toil for one whole day of play.

Such abrupt postponements, especially after the tournament had started, hasn’t been witnessed before. The event was planned to be held as part of the PCB’s mega domestic plan to revive the country’s cricket fortunes. Hence, millions of rupees were put into it, with the involved officials being paid hefty amounts.

The PCB had also spent money on setting up training camps for all 18 teams, while also providing them meals, accommodation and transport besides kits and daily allowances.

The teams were to play a one-day match after a day’s break following the close of the three-day matches.

Dawn understands that the PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi was not satisfied with the selection process of the players, hence called for the tournament to be postponed.

The selection was carried out by regional coaches who were appointed by the PCB, while the selection panel also included the board’s representative and president of the said region.

The process of the selection was also audited by the PCB’s audit committee — chaired by Bilal Qureshi — which had the responsibility to certify the performance and fitness of the selected players.

Though the sources in PCB claimed that a good number of complaints against the selection were received by the PCB chairman, the players and umpires, who were part of Tuesday’s play told Dawn that they received an email from the PCB office that the tournament had been postponed with immediate effect, without explaining any reason.

“The news caused great disappointment for the players and the officials as the players had prepared in training camps of more than a week,” an official said.

“It is not a joke to play with the sentiments of so many players and officials in one go, caring little that millions of rupees will also go in waste besides spreading disappointment among the players about their future,” a player added.

“If there is any reason related to the poor selection, the decision of postponement should have come out much earlier as the PCB held the academies for the selection teams over a period of weeks and it has booked hotels in different cities for the teams, which all went in vain,” said another.

Meanwhile, sources said that after the postponement of the men’s U-19 event, the national women’s U-19 tournament, which is to start from Sept. 16 across the country had also been postponed.

The fate of the Inter-District Senior cricket tournament, which is scheduled to begin from Sept 12, is yet to be confirmed.

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2024