Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) management committee head Zaka Ashraf was allegedly disregarding Babar Azam’s attempts to contact and call him, according to a claim made on Saturday by former Pakistani cricket team wicketkeeper Rashid Latif.
In an interview with a local news channel, Ashraf denied the claims, saying that the Pakistan captain had never gotten in touch with him directly. “He [Latif] says that I don’t pick up his [Babar’s] call,” Ashraf clarified. He’s never given me a call. The chief operating officer or the director of international cricket is anticipated to have a conversation with the captain of the team.”
Ashraf shared Babar Azam’s personal WhatsApp message with the interviewer, going to significant lengths to support his claim despite Babar’s denial of any communication. The WhatsApp conversation between PCB’s Chief Operating Officer, Salman Naseer, and Babar was broadcast live on television.
Naseer allegedly said, “Babar, there’s also been news circulating on TV and social media that you have been calling Chairman and he’s not answering,” in this disclosed conversation. Have you lately given him a call?” The host said that Babar’s reply was, “Salam Salman bhai, I have not made any call to sir.”
The PCB chief’s actions raise ethical questions because it’s unclear if Babar gave his permission to share his private message on live TV. It’s possible that leaking private messages might be regarded as a privacy violation.
Azhar Ali, a former cricket player for Pakistan, brought up a similar issue during the show and questioned whether Babar’s agreement was obtained by the PCB chief or the program before releasing his interaction live on air.
The presenter of the aforementioned show Waseem Badami used his social media account to post a video in which he acknowledged his error and revealed the WhatsApp exchange with Babar.
Badami explained that at first, they were hesitant to make the conversation public, but in the end, they decided to share it since the PCB chief permitted them to do so. Despite this, Badami stressed that the channel made a mistake in displaying the conversation, and he sincerely apologized for that mistake.
