Now, Bashir tries the glam pitch

The mystery surrounding Zahid Bashir continued to swirl around sporting and entertainment circles here on Wednesday. Bashir, the former mark...

The mystery surrounding Zahid Bashir continued to swirl around sporting and entertainment circles here on Wednesday. Bashir, the former marketing manager of the Pakistan Cricket Board, spent the day trying to tie up deals for a proposed cultural show during the Indo-Pak series.

Bashir, as this paper reported, had spent Tuesday meeting top officials of TV networks, including the CEO of Prasar Bharati, apparently collecting bids for telecast rights to the series.

Today, he focused on non-cricketing deals. His plans, as he told The Indian Express, are a fashion show with top models including Anupama Verma, a concert by Asha Bhosle and shows by actors Sanjay Dutt, Salman Khan and Kareena Kapoor.

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It wasn’t clear how much of that actually worked out but sources close to Asha Bhosle said the singer had said no, citing a lack of free dates.

And even as Bashir went about his meetings, the PCB issued a statement in Lahore making clear their stand on their former employee. ‘‘The Pakistan board is not obliged to fulfil any obligation or deals Bashir may have made in India’’, the statement said.

Interestingly Bashir, who had told TV officials yesterday up front that he was on a mission to salvage Pakistani prestige, said today he was meeting people in his personal capacity. ‘‘If I am paying the stars, why wouldn’t they accept my offer’’, he asked.

Bashir said he planned to hand over the rights of all events finally to Interflow, a Pakistani event management company. Incidentally, Interflow had won the contract for in-stadia advertising from PCB but the process was reviewed — unfairly, Bashir alleges.