Rising Pakistani cricketer forced to leave cricket and drive van to earn livings
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ISLAMABAD - Rising Pakistani cricketer forced to leave cricket and drive van to earn livings for his family due ban on departmental cricket.
The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) recently came up with an overhauling plan of its country’s cricket and one of its moves was to dismantle the departmental cricket culture. It met a strong objection as many felt this would render many players at the domestic level jobless and create an economic hardship for them. That the *criticism* link was not out of place became evident recently when a first-class cricketer – Fazal Subhan – was seen driving a pick-up van in Karachi to meet his survival needs.
The story of 31-year-old Fazal came to the fore after a sports journalist posted a video of him. Fazal, who has scored a double century in first-class cricket and has a strike-rate of 131 above in the T20s and was considered for a national berth, said he has inconsistent employment nowadays.
“Yes, I drive this [pickup] for bhara (fare). This is seasonal work. Some days there is a lot of work, and sometimes there is nothing for 10 days,” Fazal told the reporter while sitting behind the wheels of his rented pickup van.
“I worked so hard to play for Pakistan. During departmental cricket, we were drawing a salary of Rs 100,000 but since the departments have shut down we are down to Rs 30,000-35,000, which is not enough to survive,” the cricketer, who played for Habib Bank Limited, said.
“I am grateful that at least I have this job right now because of the way things are, who knows if I would even have this tomorrow. We have no choice; we have to do something for our children.”
Fazal, who last played a domestic game in September 2018 and averages almost 33 in *first-class* link games, said it is not just him but many other cricketers are going through a similar ordeal. “There are hundreds of cricketers like me. Some are riding bikes with Careem, some are driving pickups, and some are stuck in companies.” - CricTracker
