On the eve of Lahore Qalandars match in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), two of their prominent players have been accused of breaching hotel protocol.
The players in question are Lahore Qalandars’ captain Shaheen Shah Afridi and Zimbabwe allrounder Sikandar Raza. In a letter to the Pakistan Cricket Board, the Punjab police informed that the two Lahore Qalandars players “forcefully escorted four visitors” to Raza’s room, “despite resistance from on-duty security personnel” on Saturday night.
Raza, who was born in Pakistan, said on Sunday that he was unaware of any such protocols and mentioned that in the previous four editions of the PSL, he met with family members and friends in the team hotel.
“One thing should be remembered that by birth I am a Pakistani and (a) few family members will come to meet me,” Raza said. “The (previous) protocols were that I can’t go out of hotel, but I can meet my family members, close cousins and friends in the hotel.”
Pakistan’s premier T20 tournament sstarted on Thursday in Lahore behind closed doors after fuel prices soared because of the West Asia conflict.
The police letter said Lahore’s liaison officer had asked a PCB official for permission to let the four visitors into the hotel. The request was turned down as per security rules. Later, Lahore franchise owner Sameen Rana made the same request to PCB CEO Salman Naseer, but that too was rejected.
Despite this, Afridi and Raza allegedly went ahead and took the visitors to Raza’s room on the eighth floor, even though security staff on duty tried to stop them. The visitors stayed in the room until 1:25 am before leaving.
“Ensuring strict compliance with security protocols is essential to avoid any untoward and potentially harmful situations,” the letter also said.
Raza said he wasn’t aware of the security protocols, and added that he took his friends to his room in order to choose the cricket bats which they had brought with them.
“The four friends, who came yesterday, I know them personally for a long time, so it was nice to see them. I wasn’t aware of this (the security protocols),” said Raza.
Lahore lost to Karachi Kings by four wickets with three balls remaining on Sunday. Notably, in the same match, the Lahore franchise has been rocked by ball-tampering controversy where their player Fakhar Zaman has been charged for the wrongdoing.
