Pakistan Cricket Board takes offence to advertisement campaign in New Zealand

KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board has taken it furious with a New Zealand beverage company's ad campaign in which Kiwi player Darryl Tuffey claims that Pakistani players are “match-fixers”.

The ad campaign has also drawn a strong reaction from the Pakistani community in New Zealand and sources said it was former Test player and coach Khalid Ibadullah who drew the attention of the board towards the campaign.

The commercial, which features Tuffey, is for a beer brand and in it he claims that Pakistani players are match fixers and while New Zealand win matches, the Pakistanis take home cash cheques.

“We are looking into the matter and will want to have a look at the commercial first before we proceed further. But so far from what we have heard it is offensive to Pakistan cricket and players,” a senior PCB official told PTI.

The company has defended the commercial pointing out that Pakistan cricket has been hit hard by match fixing allegations and that three of its top players -- Salman Butt, Muhammad Asif and Muhammad Aamir -- were in fact banned by the ICC for spot-fixing last year.

The board official said while it was true that the three players were banned for spot-fixing but that didn't give the company the right to cast slurs on Pakistan cricket. “The act of a few individuals cannot mean anyone has the right to make offensive remarks about the entire Pakistan cricket team or players,” the official said.