Shahid Afridi takes a ‘political’ dig as PCB adds Imran Khan to tribute video after backlash

Imran Khan was added to the video after PCB received severe backlash for omitting him.

Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi took a massive dig at the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) after it had to add the 1992 World Cup winning Pakistan skipper and former PM Imran Khan to a tribute video it had posted on Independence Day, after receiving massive backlash for omitting him.

Imran Khan was recently arrested for the second time in a span of four months after an Islamabad court pronounced a verdict sentencing him to three years of imprisonment, simultaneously disqualifying him from political involvement due to his involvement in "corrupt practices."

Meanwhile, the PCB had posted a compilation video to celebrate the national sporting heroes on the occasion of Independence Day on August 14. The two minutes and twenty-one second video traversed through Pakistan's cricketing journey, commencing with their inaugural foray onto the international stage in 1952.

It highlighted the 1992 World Cup win, Pakistan’s only triumph in the tournament and culminated at the juncture of the 2022 T20 World Cup, where the current Babar Azam-led side qualified for the final of the T20 World Cup 2022.

However, in the initial video, Imran Khan, considered to be the greatest cricketer produced by the nation, was nowhere to be seen. In little time, #ShameOnPCB started to trend on X (formerly Twitter) while some former cricketers, including the legendary Wasim Akram, also criticised the board for the video.

The public displeasure prompted the PCB to change the video and publish a new one featuring Imran Khan.    

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"The PCB has launched a promotional campaign leading up to the CWC 2023. One of the videos was uploaded on 14th August 2023. Due to its length, the video was abridged and some important clips were missing. This has been rectified in the complete version of the video," the PCB wrote on X (formerly Twitter) while sharing the new video.

As the fans welcomed the decision to add Imran Khan to the video, Shahid Afridi made a snarky comment, saying 'politics' should never be mixed with cricket.

"This is a great promotional campaign for CWC 2023 now. Services of our heroes in the cricket fraternity should never be impacted by any political stances," Afridi posted.