Picture Credit: Twitter
Gone are the days when fans had to travel miles to see their idols. In times of social media, fans can catch glimpses of their favourite sportsperson from the comfort of their homes. With social media marketing becoming a thing, a team’s popularity is also measured by the number of followers they have on a particular platform. Teams are hiring professionals to keep their followers engaged.
For that, teams post exclusive footage of players and what they are doing when not on the field. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) also has a very active social media handle wherein they post behind-the-scenes footage. The admin of the social media account of the Pakistan cricket team gives a sneak peek into the things happening in the dressing room.
For example, PCB posted a video of Babar Azam's speech after the defeat against India in the first game of the T20 World Cup and then they also shared Babar and mentor Matthew Hayden's videos giving pep talks to the other players in the dressing room soon after the team qualified for the semis on Sunday.
Now, as the two videos garnered significant views and attention, a discussion around these videos was held on a Pakistan TV show. Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis were a part of the discussion , and the two former Pakistan cricketers openly expressed their opinion. Both these former cricketers slammed the PCB for showing too much. Akram looked utterly displeased as he said that he hasn’t seen any team going to the extent of Pakistan.
Addressing the need for social media interaction, Akram said that a boundary should be defined. "Look I was in place of Babar Azam I would stop the guy making videos because at times some very personal things are said and done and can be embarrassing if leaked out," Akram said on the A Sports channel.
"It is good to allow fans to interact with their favourite players through social media but this is getting too much", he added.
"I don't think I have seen any other team go to this extent in this World Cup or prior to that. I can understand the desire to increase followers and get views but this is too much."
Meanwhile, Waqar Younis also echoed Akram’s thoughts saying noted that in the past Pakistan cricket suffered because it had a history of dressing room information and incidents getting leaked.
"I agree 100 per cent with what Wasim has said. Whatever happens inside the dressing room, should stay there," he said. "This is a problem not just now but earlier as well when a lot of information was leaked to the media - people used to scream, argue, and fight. And now you yourself are recording and showing happenings from the dressing room to the world," he said.
