Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan has created another controversy as he was filmed telling aides the foreign players who took part in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) final were 'phateechar' (roughly, low-class).
The PTI chief said he does not even know the names of those foreign players who played the final match. He said these players were brought from Africa and they would have come to play in any case for money.
Imran Khan added that the idea was to bring big players to Pakistan but all of them refused to come here.
After this statement, Imran Khan came under fire and is facing a lot of criticism on social media as well as well as from political leaders and other public figures.
Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Maryam Aurangzeb has said that remarks about foreign players participating in the final of PSL are regrettable. Successful holding of final was a message to terrorists from fearless Pakistanis to brace challenge squarely, she added.
Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah also criticised Imran Khan and said he used the language of RAW, his words were humiliating and hurt the feelings of the whole nation. Rana Sanaullah demanded Imran Khan to take his statement back and apologize to whole nation.
On the other hand, cricket fans also seemed upset with Imran Khan and asked him the question that which name will be bigger than Darren Sammy, Marlon Samuels, Dawid Malan, Chris Jordan and the great Sir Vivian Richards?
It is pertinent here to mention that the squad of Peshawar Zalmi came with full strength to Lahore for the final. Their team was led by two-time T20 World Cup winning captain Darren Sammy. Other foreign players in the team included Marlon Samuels, Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan.
Quetta gladiators also had one of the greatest players of the game in the form of Sir Vivian Richards who was their mentor. Moreover, Dean Jones also came to Lahore to commentate in the final.