PSL – Lahore Qalandars in security breach – Sikandar Raza seeks to exonerate Shaheen Shah Afridi

Ravi Singh

4 hours ago

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Sikandar Raza sought to exonerate Shaheen Shah Afridi after a letter from the Punjab police to the PSL chief executive Salman Naseer accused the pair of “forcefully escorting” unauthorised visitors up to Raza’s room on Saturday night. Raza said he wanted to see close friends he had known for 19 years, and Afridi was merely helping facilitate that.

Raza repeatedly contradicted the police’s account of Afridi’s conduct in the matter.

“Shaheen didn’t force anyone,” Raza said. “My friends and family had come, and at my request, Shaheen helped them [come up to my room]. If these were the SOPs [that visitors weren’t allowed into our rooms], I wasn’t aware, and to some extent, Shaheen wasn’t aware either. The culprit here is me, not Shaheen. He went down on my request, because it was my close family and friends; I didn’t want to meet them in the business centre. We sat upstairs for 40 minutes.”

On Sunday, the police’s letter to Naseer was leaked on social media. It accused Lahore Qalandars, Afridi and Raza’s team, of violating security protocols, alleging that, despite being refused permission to receive visitors in Raza’s room by both the PCB’s security and anti-corruption manager as well as Naseer, Afridi and Raza took people up to the player’s room. Despite Raza saying they stayed in his room for 40 minutes, the letter claims they spent approximately three hours there. ESPNcricinfo’s attempt to contact Naseer for comment have not received a response.

Sources within the Qalandars set-up have largely confirmed the broader details of the events concerning the visit, though they dispute there was any forced-entry element to the visit.

“We [the visitors and he] have been friends for 19 years,” Raza said. “My wife and kids will also come to see me. Please don’t forget that my family and relatives live here [and] I don’t get to see [them] all year. Shaheen merely went down on my request. We requested a few members of the PCB, and what happened after that we’ll look into it. But it was my call, not Shaheen’s, and I know he didn’t forcefully escort anyone because I was in the lift with him, too.”

PCB’s head of media Umar Farooq, in a statement to ESPNcricinfo, said on Sunday, “We are aware of an incident involving two Lahore Qalandars players, and are in communication with the PSL over the matter.”

The letter from the police urged the PSL to take action to ensure such an incident is not repeated. So far, neither the PCB nor the PSL has issued any official statement.

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