Pakistan vs England 2022
Imam-ul-Haq defends Khushdil Shah after video of fans calling him ‘parchi player’ goes viral
Khushdil Shah has amassed only 145 runs in 12 matches this year
Pakistan has been under the radar after their loss against England in the seven-match T20I series. The Men in Green lost the decider on October 2, Sunday at Lahore, and their middle-order, once again, got exposed against a reinvigorating English pace attack.
Khushdil Shah, the Men in Green middle-order batter perished for just 27 runs while chasing a target of 210. However, when he returned to the pavilion, people started chanting ‘Parchi, Parchi’ and indicated that the batter has been selected on the basis of favouritism.
Devastated by the incident, the Pakistan opener Imam-ul-Haq took to Twitter and requested the fans to stop coming up with such words. Further, the batter highlighted that the players play only for Pakistan and not for themselves.
The derogatory word ‘parchi’ used often in Pakistan
I would like to request our fans to avoid such rants at any player as it can badly impact the player’s health and try to support them like you always do, regardless of the results. We play for YOU, we play for PAKISTAN ?? Stay blessed ?
— Imam Ul Haq (@ImamUlHaq12) October 2, 2022
“I would like to request our fans to avoid such rants at any player as it can badly impact the player’s health and try to support them like you always do, regardless of the results. We play for YOU, we play for PAKISTAN. Stay blessed,” Imam-ul-Haq posted on Twitter.
It is not the first time that Pakistani fans have come up with the derogatory word. Earlier, in late 2020, Pakistan fans called Abdul Qadir’s son Usman a ‘parchi’ and it angered the former cricketer Wasim Akram.
The former skipper, who got disgruntled by the incident, slammed the fans and said that they need to learn to respect the players irrespective of the result.
“Sometimes this ‘parchi’ tag angers me, especially when people say Usman Qadir is a parchi. This is not cricket being played in the local neighbourhood (Yeh muhallay kee cricket naheen hai). Here, if someone is good enough, he will play for Pakistan,” Akram had said earlier.
Prior to that, even Inzamam ul Haq was a victim and people once called him a ‘parchi’ player.
“Inzamam and Mushtaq Ahmed used to play with me in United Bank Limited [UBL]. Inzamam first had to prove himself in street cricket. No one was ready to accept that Inzamam was a good player. People used to call him a parchi but we had seen him play in UBL. The semi-final in 1992 changed his career overnight and he took Pakistan into the finals by beating New Zealand,” Pakistan Cricket quoted Rashid Latif as saying in the video.
