Audio clip allegedly involves PCB chief discussing matters pertaining to team with two unidentified inviduals
\nIslamabad
\nPakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf has been caught in another controversy in the form of an alleged audio leak involving former Pakistan captain Babar Azam.
\nIn the audio clip spanning two minutes and 15 seconds, a voice resembling that of Ashraf is allegedly heard talking to an unidentified woman about matters pertaining to the recent changes made in the team\u2019s leadership \u2014 Babar\u2019s change of captaincy to be precise.
\nThis is not the first time a controversy has emerged involving Babar and the PCB chief. Previously, a conversation between the star batter and board\u2019s Chief Operating Officer (COO) Salman Naseer was leaked and subsequently aired on a private news channel in October.
\nThe chat showed text messages exchanged between the duo where the skipper denied calling PCB Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf when asked about the rumours that he was trying to call the board\u2019s chief with the latter answering his calls.
\nThe latest audio leak includes a conversation involving three people including the PCB Management Committee chairman and two other unidentified individuals who can be heard discussing matters pertaining to the national side.
\nMost of the conversation was between the woman and Ashraf, wherein the two discussed the influence of friendship and players\u2019 agents in the team.
\n\u201cWe have seen how the captain prefers to play his close friends, there was no place for Shadab Khan [in the World Cup],\u201d said the unidentified woman.
\n\u201cPakistan cricket is deteriorating because of this,\u201d Ashraf concurred.
\nAnother unknown individual in the audio said: \u201cHasan Ali also played because of the same reason [being Babar\u2019s friend].
\nTo which the woman replied: \u201cNo, Hasan played because Naseem [Shah] wasn\u2019t there.\u201d
\nThe PCB chief then went on to talk about an agent named Talha, saying that he has eight players in his control so much that he even visits their homes to build great relationships.
\n\u201cThere is this guy named Talha. He is a player agent. He has controlled eight players of the national team. He has signed contracts with the players […] he is such a smart guy that he has built a lot of relationships with the players\u2019 families by going to the players\u2019 houses, and the players can\u2019t move without him. Talha Osmani, I think I don\u2019t know what his name is,\u201d Ashraf said.
\nHe then added that he offered Babar Test cricket captaincy, but he said he needed to take his family\u2019s advice, in reality, however, he wanted to call Talha.
\n\u201cI had told Babar that you should keep the Test captaincy, I am thinking of removing you from the white ball. He [Babar] replied, \u2018Well, I will discuss this at home, and then I will tell you my decision\u2019. Babar called Talha and consulted him, and Talha advised him to leave everything,\u201d the PCB official claimed.
\nAshraf then revealed that he already had a \u201cplan B\u201d prepared should such a situation arrive, and when Babar confirmed he would step down across formats, he called that person and said: \u201cChal bhai, ab tu captain hai. (Come, now you are the captain)\u201d.
\nThe unidentified woman was confused so she asked who\u2019s the captain wondering if it was Shan Masood, to which Ashraf replied, \u201cNo, it is Shaheen Afridi,\u201d after which the woman questioned wasn\u2019t Mohammad Rizwan the best option.
\n\u201cI liked Rizwan a lot but he too was involved with Babar and Talha,\u201d the PCB chief argued.
\nThe woman then said: \u201cBut Shaheen is under the control of Shahid Afridi, his father-in-law and he interferes a lot,\u201d to which the unknown person sitting there said, \u201cThis much [interefence] is very common\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Audio clip allegedly involves PCB chief discussing matters pertaining to team with two unidentified inviduals Islamabad Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Management Committee Chairman Zaka Ashraf has been caught in another controversy in the form of an alleged audio leak involving former Pakistan captain Babar Azam. In the audio clip spanning two minutes and 15 seconds, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-375581","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n