Young Cricketer upset over exclusion committee suicide in Karachi

Naimat Khan

KARACHI: A young cricketer, who has represented Karachi in under-19 tournament, committed suicide at his residence here on Tuesday.

According to Amir Hanif, who himself has represented Pakistan in five One Day Internationals (ODI), his son Zariab, committed after he was dropped off the team.

Muhammad Zariab was student of first year of intermediate and represented Karachi in Under19 Tournament in Lahore last month but was sent back due to injury. The coaches told that he would be re-included once he recovers.

Later one 17 years old applied for Zone-4 the Karachi city cricket association sent him home while declaring him over age of the contest..

On this Zariab hanged himself last night after which he was shifted to Jinnah Hospital for postmortem Hanif told that deceased had been upset over his exclusion from the team and had been under extreme pressure from his coaches.

The aggrieved father urged cricket coaches to rethink their priorities and not exert undue pressure on young players.

Secretary Zone four Karachi Shamim Anwer, however, rejected the allegations that Zaryab was dropped from the team and was under pressure because of it.

Anwar told media that there had been an issue in just one match regarding the age of certain players of the zone’s under-19 team, including Zaryab, because of a medical test report.

He said that the test was later revoked and all players, including Zaryab, were granted clearance certificates. “Zaryab continued to play [for the team] thereafter,” Anwer said, adding that he was one of the best players of the team.

He said that Zaryab had not played the last few matches but that was because the player had himself chosen not to play owing to food poisoning. “Why would we drop a player who is helping us win?” Anwer asked.

The cause of death will be ascertained following a post-mortem examination.