Pakistan monitoring controversy

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were closely monitoring the controversy involving Sachin Tendulkar who was Tuesday found guilty of ball-tampering.

While the Pakistan authorities restrained from commenting on the issue, sources confirmed that if the International Cricket Council (ICC) kept in abeyance the ban on Tendulkar, the PCB would raise the issue of Waqar Younis.

The Pakistan captain was fined 50 per cent of his match fee and banned from a one-day international last year in Sri Lanka by New Zealand's John Reid.

Sources, said the PCB would review the footage of Tendulkar's incident and will then compare it with Waqar Younis' episode to examine the similarities. "And if the incidents are identical, the PCB will press for the ICC to scrap the punishment on Waqar off the record books," sources said.

Although the ICC cannot reverse the one-man ban on Waqar, the least it can do is to remove the stigma against the name of the champion fast bowler who has been a scourge for the batsmen throughout his career.

The only official reaction from the PCB on the controversy was that it repeated its call for best match referees and umpires from all the Test playing countries rather than ICC's decision to have a select group of officials.