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The Pakistan team management, in a belated effort to cover up its earlier folly, Thursday agreed to release the players attending the training camp.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), in an announcement, said: "The PCB has released the players in the Pakistan training camp for one day (March 29) to enable them to play for their respective departments in the National One-day tournament.

"Yawar Saeed, manager Pakistan team and incharge of the camp, has accordingly advised the players to report back in the camp on the evening of March 29. The training camp will continue till April 1."

The Pakistan team management had earlier rejected PCB's proposal to allow the players to represent their departments. The PCB had tried to convince the team management considering that the players had a moral obligation to their departments, particularly in a premier one-day competition.

PIA raised most of the hue and cry, and rightly so, as the team management's arrogance have left them on the verge of being ousted from the current tournament. PIA's seven players - Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Shoaib Malik, Abdul Razzaq, Azhar Mahmood, Yousuf Youhana and Faisal Iqbal - are in the 16-man squad for Sharjah that is training at Gaddafi Stadium since March 22.

The PCB has been criticized from right, left and centre for holding a training camp during the midst of domestic season. The critics have questioned how many camps have benefited the Pakistan team as fitness of the players continue to remain below par while the fielding standards is on the decline.

Nevertheless, the other interesting argument that has come recently is that the PCB is giving a final free hand to the team management before it is held accountable for the recent failures.

© Dawn