Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chief Zaka Ashraf has come under fire for allegedly leaking Babar Azam's Whatsapp chats with Chief Operating Officer Salman Naseer. The messages emerged on Pakistan's renowned news network ARY News as netizens questioned whether the Pakistan captain had consented to sharing his messages on live TV.
Former Pakistan keeper-batter Rashid Latif had already claimed that Zaka Ashraf had allegedly been ignoring Babar's attempts to communicate him. However, Ashraf hit back in an interview with the local news channel that the 29-year-old didn't reach out to him directly. Hence, Ashraf went to a massive extent by sharing the private Whatsapp message, which was broadcast live on television.
In the message, Naseer asked, 'Have you called him recently?' To which Babar replied, 'Salam Salman bhai, I have not made any call to sir'.
However, later sports Presenter Waseem Badami took to his social media handle and acknowledged his mistake of displaying the conversation live and apologized for his mistake. Badami revealed that they were hesitant in revealing the conversation, but decided to go ahead as the PCB Chief gave them permission.
Babar Azam and co. out to revive their 2023 World Cup campaign:
The controversy comes in at an extremely sensitive time for the Pakistan national team, especially when their 2023 World Cup campaign is at a knife's edge. Babar's men will face Bangladesh on Tuesday at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata as they fight to stay in the semi-finals race.
The Men in Green have already lost 4 consecutive matches, giving away a promising start to their campaign, winning the first two games. However, Babar seems to have regained some form after his slow start to the tournament.
