Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today barred its players from doing push-ups on the field after they win matches

NEW DELHI: Who are Pakistan’s cricket players giving a message to when they do push-ups on field after a match win? And wouldn’t they be better off doing nawafil, or special Islamic prayers, after they win?

It was after weighty deliberations on these questions that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) today barred its players from doing push-ups on the field after they win matches, Pakistan’s Dawn reported.

Push-ups-as-celebration were first done by skipper Misbah-ul-Haq after he completed his century in a Test match against England in July. After that, the entire Pakistani team did the same after their Test win at Lord’s, the Pakistani newspaper said.
Today, PCB Executive Committee Chairman Najam Sethi told a National Assembly committee no push-ups would be allowed any more, after lawmakers raised questions about them during a meeting of the Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee.

“Who were Misbah-ul-Haq and other players giving a message to by doing push-ups?” asked Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) lawmaker Rana Muhammad Afzal. He then wondered why the players did push-ups when the team won and were silent when it lost.

While physical movement was a healthy activity, “it would have been better if the players offered nawafil (special prayers) instead of doing press-ups on the victory”, said another PML-N lawmaker, Chaudhary Nazeer Ahmad.

Bureau Report