Pakistan Cricket Board says players not banned from doing push-up celebrations

Executive committee chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Najam Sethi, has revealed that there is no ban on players who want to do push-ups or press-ups to celebrate personal milestones or wins. It was earlier reported that the Men in Green had been barred from doing press-ups by the PCB after the Inter-Provincial Coordination Committee raised the issue post their 133-run win against West Indies in the second Test at Abu Dhabi.

Reports had earlier that Sethi had confirmed that the activity had been stopped after various Pakistan lawmakers had questioned the logic behind the action.

A PML-N lawmaker had asked why the team only did push-ups only when the team won and remained silent when they lost.

"What message are Misbah-ul-Haq and other players giving to the world by doing push-ups?" Muhammad Afzal, who questioned the celebrations said, while maintaining that physical activity was healthy but, "it would have been better if the players offered nawafil (special prayers) instead of doing press-ups over the victory."

Sethi took to Twitter to clarify his stance claiming that there was no truth to the reports and that the players had not been banned from the activity. He tweeted, "Oh for God's sake, there is no ban on pushups! In fact I think players should do 100 pushups when they score a century."

Pakistan are currently in action at the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where they recorded an impressive 133-run victory over the West Indies in the second Test to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match Test series. The Men In Green are currently placed second in the ICC Test rankings, four points behind leaders India.