Former cricketer’s son commits suicide over non-selection

KARACHI: Former international cricketer Aamer Hanif’s son committed suicide after alleged heartbreak over non-selection in an Under-19 cricket team.

According to the grieving father, who represented Pakistan in five ODIs during the 1990s, his son, Mohammad Zaryab, was upset after he was declared too old to be selected for the U-19s.

Zaryab, who was a first-year student at college and Hanif’s oldest son, hanged himself to death the previous day.

“My son was pressurised, he was told he was overage. The coaches’ behaviour towards him forced him [to kill himself],” said Hanif, as he pleaded for “other such sons to be saved” from “such [non-cooperative] environment”.

Zaryab, according to the father, had represented Karachi in an U-19 tournament in Lahore last month, from where he was “sent home over an injury excuse”. The teenager had resisted the move, claiming his injury was not serious enough to be sent home for.

The deceased’s funeral prayers will be offered today.