The Pakistan Cricket Board has sent a stern warning to its centrally contracted players not to make any posts on social media without the permission of its media department, according to sources.
The directive strengthens contractual provisions, especially regarding the online behaviour of players.
The reason why scrutiny is increased is due to Rs20 million fine for fast bowler Naseem Shah.
The fine was connected to a viral post that was made through his account regarding the Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz.
It has been reported that players have been directed to adhere strictly to all the provisions discussed in their central contracts such as social media policy of PCB.
These guidelines have also been reiterated to the team managers with a strict warning that no political content will be accepted at all.
Any infringement especially related to controversial or sensitive posts will carry fines up to Rs10 million.
The controversy originated when the ongoing Pakistan Super League was launched at Gaddafi Stadium with Maryam Nawaz as Chief Guest.
PCB Chairman Mohsin Naqvi greeted her during the event where she was introduced to the players and franchise owners.
She also wished the participating teams the best before the start of the tournament.
After that, a post by the X account of Naseem Shah was made, which was a quote-retweet of a PCB post that had Moshin Naqvi and Maryam Nawaz in it, creating a buzz on the Internet.
The post immediately started gaining momentum and received both positive and negative responses among fans and the cricketing community.
Naseem Shah denied being intentionally involved in the tweet, claiming that his account had been hacked.
He explained that the post was due to the fact that there was a security breach and assured that he recovered his account.
