03 January,2011 10:08 AM IST | | Agencies
A disgruntled cricketer decided to disrupted a match of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at the National stadium on Sunday to protest his non-selection in the Karachi team.
u00a0Suleman Niazi and four of his friends marched on to the pitch as the match between Karachi Blues and Faisalabad was in progress and sat on the pitch refusing to budge from there.
The match was held up for some five minutes before match referee, Anwar Khan and the umpires and players managed to move Niazi and his friends.
"There is total injustice in the selection of Karachi teams. Merit is ignored and so many players have played this season due to favoritism," Niazi told the media.
The batsman was adamant that he deserved selection in the Karachi team but despite constant requests to at least take his trials the Karachi selectors had continued to ignore him.
"That is why today I decided to let everyone know what is happening in Karachi cricket and lodge a protest," he said.
Few weeks back, Niazi had also come to the ground and threatened the Karachi team manager of dire consequences and the organisers had to call in the police to restore order.
Anwar Khan said he would be lodging a report about the incident with the Pakistan Cricket Board.
"No one can take the law into his own hands. Even if this person has some grievances this is not the way to lodge it. He should not have stopped the match and the board will now decide what action to take against him," Khan said.
Threats from players not selected in the Karachi teams are not uncommon.
Despite the fact that the PCB allows Karachi to field two teams in the first class competition, it is hard for the Karachi city cricket association to satisfy everyone in a population of 16 million in the city.
