The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently caused an uproar across social media after it omitted legendary Imran Khan from a video, released on the occasion of Independence day.
The video celebrated the achievements of the Pakistan cricket team and featured cricketers and memorable moments which made the national team great.
However, despite leading the Men in Green to their first ever World Cup trophy, the former PM was a notable exclusion.
Cricket enthusiasts and supporters of Imran Khan didn’t take long to notice PCB’s blunder. Netizens bashed the cricket board and demanded immediate rectification.
Former skipper and legendary cricketer Wasim Akram also took to his Twitter account to express his displeasure.
The Sultan of Swing advised PCB to delete the video and apologise for their omission of Imran Khan. Akram described the video as the shock of his life.
“Khan is an icon of world cricket and developed Pakistan into a strong unit in his time and gave us a pathway… PCB should delete the video and apologise,” he tweeted.
Now, PCB has uploaded a longer version of the video with a clarification. This time, the video does feature Imran Khan.
The cricket board clarified that some important clips were missing from the earlier video due to its length. “This has been rectified in the complete version of the video,” it added.
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 ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/Rz2OBDyI9i
— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) August 16, 2023
The end to the video controversy is nowhere in sight as the netizens have now noticed another omission.
Now, cricket enthusiasts have noticed that Wasim Akram has been “deliberately” excluded from the extended version.
They believe that its due to his stance about the first video, which didn’t feature Khan.
Am I the only one who couldn't find Wasim Akram in the video? 🙈 https://t.co/mvXaGGNpu9
— Faizan Lakhani (@faizanlakhani) August 16, 2023