PESHAWAR
A condolence reference was held in the memory of Abdul Aziz, the bowling coach of Maazullah Khan Cricket Academy of Directorate General Sports, in which Directorate Sports officials, players and relatives of the deceased were also participated.
The participants prayed for the departed soul of Abdul Aziz, a former cricketer and coach. They expressed deep sorrow on the untimely death of a senior cricket coach, who was committed to cricket and a very kind hearted human. May Allah bless him with highest ranks in Jannah.
Besides them Director Sports and PCB curator Mir Bashar Khan, former Director General and Ex-Test cricket Maazullah Khan also participated in the condolence reference and Quran Khawani held to pay homage for the departed soul of late Abdul Aziz.
Speaking on this occasion, former Test cricket and ex-Director General Sports Maazullah Khan paid rich tribute to the services he (late Abdul Aziz) as coach rendered during his 40-year-long association with cricket.
He said late Abdul Aziz loved to coach the upcoming youngsters and dedicatedly worked hard for this purpose. During his long association with the Maazullah Khan Cricket Academy, Abdul Aziz trained and coached thousands of youngsters with bowling.
The participants also demanded the provincial government, Directorate General Sports and Pakistan Cricket Board to provide financial support to the children of the deceased. Parvez Khan, the chief coach of the academy, while talking to the media, said that the deceased was a great cricketer as well as a sophisticated and evergreen personality.
His contract was terminated till his death and he tried to restore it but was unsuccessful. Coach Bakhtiar Khan and Irfan Babu said that Abdul Aziz, who was always quiet and worked behind the scenes, was unemployed for the past seven months due to which he was worried day and night. They said that due to the financial crunch late Abdul Aziz’s seven months’ salaries were also pending that is why he worried a lot about how to run his family affairs without salary.
He was a good cricketer as well and he was also part of the Military Combined Force team and participated in the U19 camp for Sri Lanka. He started his career as a cricket coach in 1998 and worked as founding coach of the Maazullah Khan Cricket Academy setup during 90s in the premises of Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium and later on shifted to Peshawar Sports Complex.
Muhammad Haris, Abbas Afridi, Mehran Ibrahim, Nisar Afridi and Yasir Arafat etc. are included in the Pakistan cricket team used to coach and train in Maazullah Khan Cricket Academy. Pervez Khan said that last year, former DG Sports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Captain (Retd) Khalid Mehmood terminated 295 daily wagers among them was Abdul Aziz as well which disturbed his he mentally so upset which lead to his death as he suffered a heart attack due to which he was under treatment in a hospital in Rawalpindi, which he breathes his last.
Maazullah Khan along with others participated in the prayers and Quran Khawani and prayed for the departed soul. The participants prayed to Allah Almighty to rest the departed soul in peace and give the bereaved family the courage and patience to bear the loss. They also conveyed their heartfelt condolences.
