PTV withdraws recovery claim against Shoaib Akhtar

• Per lawyers of PTV, reconciliation has been reached with Akhtar.
• PTV sent him a recovery notice asking him to pay Rs100 million in damages and reimburse three months' salary.
• In October, Akhtar and Niaz were embroiled in a spat during the PTV Sports show "Game on Hai".

LAHORE: The state-owned channel PTV withdrew its compensation claim from the civil court of Lahore registered against former cricketer Shoaib Akhtar.

During the ICC Men's T20 World Cup series, Akhtar had a heated argument with PTV Sports anchor Dr Nauman Niaz on live TV, where the latter had misbehaved with the national star.

Following the argument, Akhtar had resigned from the live show. While the public supported the Rawalpindi Express, the state-owned channel had sent him a recovery notice asking him to pay Rs100 million in damages and reimburse three months' salary worth Rs3,333,000 for violating clauses of their contract.

However, before the end of the month-long cricket series, a truce had been reached between Akhtar and Niaz, after a meeting at the residence of Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry.

Per lawyers of PTV, reconciliation has been reached with Akhtar.

What had happened?

It should be recalled that in October, Akhtar and Niaz were embroiled in a spat during the PTV Sports show "Game on Hai".

The two were discussing Pakistan's victory over New Zealand when tensions between Niaz, the host of the show, and Shoaib Akhtar, one of the many decorated panellists on the show, escalated.

As Shoaib Akhtar was going through some cricket trivia — during which he credited the Pakistan Super League's Lahore Qalandars team for discovering Shaheen Shah Afridi and Haris Rauf — Niaz seemed to take offence and snapped back at Shoaib.

"You're being a little rude and I don't want to say this: but if you're being over smart, you can go. I am saying this on-air," Niaz told a dumbstruck Shoaib, cutting him short and moving to the next guest for their comment.

It wasn't clear what rubbed Niaz the wrong way, and it seemed Shoaib himself was caught off guard.

As tensions rose, the show went off-air for a commercial break. After it resumed, the discussion revolved around cricket once again but Shoaib Akhtar was visibly disturbed.

A few moments later, he unclipped his mic and walked off the show, announcing his resignation during the live transmission.

"A lot of apologies guys, a lot of apologies. I am resigning from PTV. The way I have been treated on national TV, I don't think I should be sitting here right now. So, I am resigning. Thank you very much," he said and left.

Fawad Chaudhry resolves issue

However, earlier this month, a meeting was arranged between Akhtar and Dr Niaz at the residence of Fawad Chaudhry during which differences between the two sides were settled.

Apologising to Akhtar, Dr Niaz had admitted that what had transpired on the live show should not have occurred. He had said that their 30-year-old friendship should not end.

Senior Geo News anchor and political analyst Saleem Safi had taken Akhtar to Chaudhry's home, whereas Dr Niaz had been called over to the residence by the information minister himself.