LAHORE: Former chairman Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Choudhary Zaka Ashraf has said that Pakistan stand against Big 3 will be acknowledged after around five to 10 years, ARY News reported on Monday.
Addressing a gathering in Lahore, Zaka, who has been removed by the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, said cricketing nations will realize after five to 10 years the mistake made through amendments by Big 3 were detrimental for the game. “It’s cricket that earns money, not the vice versa. Pakistan is full of talented players in all sports. We defeated India on their home soil. After the ODI series win in India, Indian officials said they have gotten money and asked us ‘what did you earn’. We responded that it’s the charm of game we admire, not the money,” said Zaka.
He said PCB was in daily contact with Sri Lanka Cricket Board, Cricket South Africa and they had assured their support, but South Africa backtracked on its pledge. India was also convincing us to support Big 3 proposal, but it had no guarantee to attest to its truth, said Zaka, adding that we decided to stick to our principle stand against Big 3.
I sought surety from India for its commitment to play series with Pakistan and asked them to sign a contract with us with reference to International Court of Arbitration. But they just continued with their lip-service and never offered any firm guarantee to back their pledge. We eventually realized that they were not seriousto materialize their promise, Zaka told.
They would take our vote and renege on their promise consequently. We had no guarantees from India. I salute to all those who took stand against Big -3 including Wasim Akram and Imran Khan. Zaka added that being a Pakistani, we were proud that we stood by what was right.
