Former, sitting cricketers raise voice over proposed plan of domestic cricket structure

While the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is inclined to revamp the domestic structure before the upcoming domestic season, the former and sitting cricketers have expressed reservations over the proposed plan of the PCB, to disband the departmental cricket.
On the instructions of PCB's patron-in-chief Imran Khan, the task force formed by the PCB has recommended to reduce the number of teams and abolish the role of departments in domestic cricket.
As per the proposed domestic structure, the first class tournament will be played between six provincial sides. The Punjab province will have two teams in the tournament while Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan and Federal Areas will have one each. A new association will be formed for these provinces whose President will be elected by regional associations.
All the provincial sides are likely to be sponsored by a department, although no department has shown any interest in this proposal till now, sources said, adding: "The PCB is still planning to go ahead with the plan, despite facing opposition from various quarters.
It may be added that in the PCB's 53rd governing council meeting in Quetta, five of the seven Board of Governors (BoG) members rejected any move to abolish departments in the restructuring of domestic cricket.
Former cricketer Javed Miandad has already voice his concerns regarding abolishing the role of departments in domestic cricket. He advised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to rethink their plan of ending departmental cricket as it provides jobs and financial security to domestic cricketers.
Pacer Wahab Riaz and wicket keeper batsman Kamran Akmal have urged the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) not to abolish the role of departments in the country's domestic cricket, noting the existing system creates employment for talented cricketers.
"We played our [domestic] cricket for different departments, and now it is time for the current lot of talented players to benefit from playing for a departmental team," Wahab said.
Moreover, Kamran Akmal and Wahab Riaz have expressed their disappointment for not being included in Pakistan's squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup.
Akmal stressed that along with himself; Fawad Alam, Wahab Riaz and Muhammad Irfan had been consistently performing well in domestic cricket but were not being noticed by selectors.
Kamran was optimistic of Pakistan's cricket team chances in the World Cup, saying the team had the potential to be ranked in the top three.
Pacer Wahab Riaz said he was upset over not being included in the World Cup squad as players work hard for this opportunity. "There are good times and bad times in cricket. Whenever I get the opportunity to play for the national side I will perform," he said. Wahab said Pakistan was capable of performing well in the tournament.