In a major embarrassment for the great British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), it has been found that one of their shows on the ongoing World Cup actually featured a fake Pakistani cricketer, who was on the show as an ‘expert’.
Nadeem Alam posed as ex-Pakistani batsman Nadeem Abbasi on multiple occasions and appeared on BBC networks such as BBC World News, BBC Asian Network and Radio Five Live. He was also part of a discussion with former Indian batsman Aakash Chopra.
Nadeem Abbasi, who has played three tests for Pakistan in 1989, was naturally furious at this imposter. He reportedly told The Sun , ” If I ever find Nadeem Alam, I will punch him in the face for damaging the country’s reputation.”
He added, “The BBC is a big institution and surely they must check?”Incidentally, this is how Nadeem Abbasi actually looks like. His only public media appearance was in the World Cup in 1996.
Clearly, there are no similarities between the two. More importantly, the very fact that a media house as prestigious and as meticulous as the BBC made such a faux pas, is very disconcerting.
Meanwhile, the imposter, Nadeem Alam has only played for his local town team of Huddersfield. But as he puts it, “I like to think I have been talking good cricket.”
That aside, while people maybe slightly bemused at this comedy of errors, it reflects poorly on BBC. Understandably, they have launched a formal investigation into the matter, with the official spokesperson issuing an apology to Abbasi. They stated, ” We apologise to the real Mr Abbasi and we will be looking seriously into what has happened.”