Raza admits hosting visitors but cites lack of awareness of new PSL rules
LAHORE: Zimbabwe all-rounder Sikandar Raza has said that neither he nor Lahore Qalandars captain Shaheen Shah Afridi were aware of the updated Pakistan Super League (PSL) security protocol prohibiting players from hosting close relatives or friends in their hotel rooms.
Raza made the remarks at a post-match press conference on Sunday following Lahore Qalandars’ four-wicket defeat to Karachi Kings in PSL 11 at Gaddafi Stadium.
According to a letter sent by Punjab police to the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), four visitors — described as close relatives or friends of Raza — were allegedly escorted to his room No. 865 on the eighth floor of the team hotel on Saturday night, despite repeated refusals by the PCB’s security and anti-corruption unit.
The Lahore Qalandars liaison officer and team owner Sameen Rana reportedly made requests to allow the meeting, which were turned down.
However, the visitors were taken to the room at around 11:05pm and remained there until 1:25am, prompting the Lahore police to lodge a formal complaint with the PCB, terming it a serious breach of established security protocols.
Raza, who was born in Pakistan, clarified that he had always followed previous PSL standard operating procedures (SOPs), which allowed family and friends to meet players inside the hotel, though players were barred from leaving the premises.
“By birth I am a Pakistani, so some family members or friends have to meet me and it has happened in the last five editions of the PSL,” he said. “In the past the protocols were that we cannot go out of the hotel to meet anyone but someone can meet us in the hotel, and that I had fully respected.”
He added that he personally knew the visitors and had requested Shaheen to bring them to his room because he could not meet them in the business centre.
“Shaheen did not do any forceful act. I requested him to please bring them… so I am the culprit for that,” Raza said, emphasising that their IDs were handed over to security and they had brought bats for him to select from.
