PCB CEO slams Mohammad Hafeez for criticizing Sharjeel Khan on Twitter

Mohammad Hafeez took to Twitter to question the return of Sharjeel Khan, who was banned in 2017 after being found guilty of spot-fixing. The veteran batsman claimed that rules need to be more stringent for tainted players, and questioned the integrity of the PCB for handing him a recall.

Shouldn’t we set Standards of Dignity & Pride Higher than any other “Extra Talent” to represent Pakistan 🇵🇰 Just Asking https://t.co/9xxIvcAqM8

— Mohammad Hafeez (@MHafeez22) March 20, 2020

His remarks, however, did not go down well with PCB CEO Wasim Khan, who said through a video link from Lahore that Hafeez is in no position to be making such comments - and least of all on social media.

"Current players should not be going up on social media to criticise other players or talk about what policies the cricket board should or shouldn't have."

"They can have their opinions about various things about world cricket and cricket in general but not about the rights and wrongs of players and the boards and they should leave that to cricket board to answer."

Previously, Hafeez also opposed Mohammad Amir's recall to the side, indicating that he's always had reservations with tainted players making comebacks to professional cricket.

Wasim confirmed that Hafeez will be spoken to in private about his comments on Twitter, and added that current players need to concentrate more on their own performances, as opposed to off-field events.

"I will be personally speaking to Mohammad Hafeez about that and I don't think it's his place to be doing it. No other player in the world does that so why should our Pakistani players do that?"

"I don't think they have any space to do that and I don't think they should be doing that. My view is, he should focus on his own game, focus on the cricketing opinion he can give but don't give personal opinion about other players."

Sharjeel's five-year suspension was halved after the 30-year-old issued an unconditional apology to the PCB. Since returning, the batsman has scored 199 runs in 10 games for the Karachi Kings in PSL 2020.