Inzamam-ul-Haq awarded 10 million cash reward; controversy erupts in Pakistan cricket

Has he invited controversy?

What’s the story?

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is in the midst of another controversy and this time it is because of its decision to award 10 million rupees to chief selector Inzamam-ul-Haq for Pakistan's victorious Champions Trophy campaign.

"It makes no sense to give the chief selector such a huge amount while the head coach and other coaching staff have got five million rupees each for the Champions Trophy win. Then why this disparity between the money given to the chief selector and other selectors," former chief selector, Iqbal Qasim was as quoted by the PTI.

The Details

After Pakistan’s historic victory in London against arch-rivals India, the rest of the selectors Tauseef Ahmed, Wasim Haider and Wajahatullah Wasti were awarded one million each at the Prime Minister's reception held in Islamabad.

However, the huge disparity in the award between the chief selector and the other selectors have drawn a lot of criticism from all quarters. 

Mohsin Hasan Khan, Former coach and chief selector said that this decision by the authorities did not make much sense as Inzamam did not even travel with the team to England, while the coach was very much part of the team and hence this huge gap in awards is not justified. 

Mohsin also believed that this cash prize could have been used for many developmental projects at the grassroot level. 

In case you didn’t know...

Pakistan won the Champions Trophy campaign after an unprecedented campaign and ever since the team has arrived in the country they have been showered with plenty of accolades.

This particular step by the government is just an extension of the aforementioned process.

However, Inzamam himself had asked the authorities to lower the prize money of officials of the Pakistan team and share it among the other members of the selection committee. 

What's next?

It would be interesting to see how Inzamam would convince his other members after such a huge gulf in the award and considering the fact that Pakistan have appointed a new skipper across all formats in Sarfraz Ahmed, all the concerned people should be on the same page going forward. 

Hence, the response of the government too will be closely monitored after reports have emerged about other selectors not being happy with the current state of affairs.

Author's Take

Financial remunerations are very much part of the incentive process and should be dished out to placate people who have been doing a good job.

Having said this, the authorities need to maintain a proper balance when they decide to hand over awards, as such trifle issues could well hamper the relationships between people.