ISLAMABAD: Chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports, Jamshed Ahmed Dasti, has called on the Federal Government to assure foolproof security for the cricketers on their return from Australia.

Dasti’s warning comes at a time when Pakistan lost all the three formats of the game — one-day, Tests and Twenty20 — in Australia.

“The players are likely to face angry mobs on their return and the best way to save them from an ultimate crowd bashing is to assure foolproof security,” Dasti told Dawn on Friday.

Australia snatched a Twenty20 win from the jaws of defeat against Pakistan in Melbourne on Friday.
“Look at the way we lost in Australia. It is lack of mental toughness and the ability to focus on the given task, which led to the humiliating defeats,” he remarked.

The reaction of the crowd here, he said, would be aggressive and “I believe security should be the top priority of the federal and provincial security departments.”

When approached, Pakistan Cricket Board’s Chief Operating Officer Wasim Bari added: “We have contacted the relevant security departments in the province of Punjab and Sindh.

The district administration and home departments have assured us [PCB] a good security cover for the players who will return shortly.”

Answering a question, the former Test cricketer claimed: “We played well, with fighting spirit in the Twenty20 match against the Aussies.”

He also assured that the “Pakistan cricket team will put in all its energies in the upcoming international events.”

Meanwhile, Dasti has summoned the national bowling and fielding coach Waqar Younis to brief the committee over his [Waqar’s] recent statement about there being “some non-cricketing reasons” behind Pakistan’s disastrous showing.

Waqar, he said, should appear in front of the NA committee which may give the nation an opportunity to know those reasons that led to such a mess.

TheDawn