New Delhi: Just a few days after the Babar Azam-Wasim Akram ‘spat’ played big on TV, the Pakistan Super League is once again in the middle of a controversy. This time, over the departure of a foreign player — James Faulkner — who has been deemed at fault by the PCB and country’s TV media in a situation involving an offshore bank account and a broken hotel chandelier.
Faulkner, who plays for Quetta Gladiators, had earlier pulled out of the tournament midway, accusing the PSL and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) of not meeting contractual and financial obligations. Later, he was accused of damaging hotel property before leaving Pakistan.
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I apologise to the Pakistan cricket fans.
But unfortunately I’ve had to withdraw from the last 2 matches and leave the @thePSLt20 due to the @TheRealPCB not honouring my contractual agreement/payments.
I’ve been here the whole duration and they have continued to lie to me.
— James Faulkner (@JamesFaulkner44) February 19, 2022
Pakistani news devoted enough airtime to the issue and came to the defence of the domestic league and the board as they dug deep into the Australian all-rounder’s past controversies, including the 2015 drink-driving ban.
While Samaa TV said that Faulkner was “intoxicated” and “behaved rudely”, ARY News suggested it was a “failed attempt by the cricketer to tarnish” Pakistan’s premier T20 competition.
In his cricket-themed show on ARY News called Har Lumha Parjosh, anchor Waseem Badami expressed his full support to the PCB and praised the joint statement made by the board and the PSL. He concluded that Faulkner was fortunate to not receive a significantly larger punishment.
Guest on the show and ex-Pakistan batsman Younis Khan said Faulkner’s actions were avoidable and reiterated the importance of players respecting the rules when plying their trade around the world.
Former fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar said on his YouTube channel on Sunday that Faulkner had committed “illlegitimate actions” and behaved foolishly. He further called on the PCB and Cricket Australia to resolve the issue calmly so that the Australian men’s team’s historic upcoming tour of Pakistan can go ahead without any diplomatic incidents. This tour is slated to begin in Rawalpindi on 4 March.
Other social media platforms were also abuzz with the fallout between Faulkner and the PCB.
“The bigger point is that, this shit is gonna make a big bang. This is a hotel full of cricketers, whose entire teams have pulled out of matches before. The helmet’s massive noise making a bang isn’t really gonna go well when every security person is on high alert,” a Reddit user pointed out, in reference to the history of security issues impacting cricket in Pakistan.
After its inaugural season in 2016, the PSL has been under clouds of spot-fixing in 2017 and ownership issues in 2018 regarding the Multan Sultans. However, James Faulkner is the first and most high-profile example of a player publicly complaining about payment disputes in relation to the PSL.