Urdu only for Pakistan cricketers

Urdu only for Pakistan cricketers

The Pakistan cricket team have been banned from speaking in English at World Cup news conferences to prevent players from being misquoted.

The players will speak only in Urdu, said former player Pervez Mir, the team's press liaison officer. The decision was also taken "because 2007 is our national tourist year and we are promoting Pakistan as well," said Mir in Montego Bay, Jamaica. "This is the perfect platform to promote and expose our language." He added that a Pakistan player had been misquoted in Trinidad following the gas leak that led to the team being evacuated from their hotel earlier in the week. "A journalist spoke to Danish Kaneria and asked him what he thought about the gas leak and he tried to play the incident down and said 'It happens'. "But when the report came out the journalist quoted him saying 'It happens at home as well'. "So we would rather avoid these kinds of incidents and speak in Urdu at official times." The team's coach, Englishman Bob Woolmer, is not a recognised Urdu speaker, and will presumably not be bound by the rules. Pakistan play West Indies in the World Cup opener at Sabina Park, Jamaica on Tuesday in Group D.

Ireland and Zimbabwe complete the group.

I think the players will still be mis-quoted anyway, the media love to do that.

ohh dat sux eh 😕 being misquoted 😕

As far as media is there everythng will b misquoted 😆 😆

ya i think its better dat they speak urdu, cus sum of dem speak realy poor english, so it'll be alot easier for them 😛

ohh poor kaneria but hes still d favourite.. 😉

anything to start an argument thats the media for you

Jesus! How did "it happens" become "it happens at home as well" ????

How ridiculous...!

kinda 😔 coz I dont know urdu so how will I know what they r saying...was lookin forward to all their interviews

if d translators do not convey d exact meaning or emotion of d player?yikes