October 09, 2006	Monday	Ramazan 15, 1427

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I WRITE this piece with trepidation: by the time you read it a mere peon might be chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board and Younis Khan might have been appointed his peon. A fevered madness gripped Pakistan cricket last week, and certainly in my thirty plus years of following this delightful enterprise it is the maddest and most fevered sequence of events.

On a positive note, Pakistan are in India preparing for a tournament in which they remain one of the favourites, led by a man whom many believe to be the natural successor to Inzamam-ul Haq, and wishing to put this turbulent period behind them.

Yet last week's lunacy has damaged Pakistan cricket more than even the Oval affair did. No organisation can flourish when its employees are a heartbeat away from dismissal and although people in sport know that no job is for life, the rapid fire of resignations, dismissals, and reinstatements will inevitably create a sense of insecurity in the Pakistan camp.

The main achievement of Shaharyar Khan's tenure was, by contrast, a sense of stability that allowed coach and captain to rebuild the team.

Unlike most of his predecessors, Shaharyar deserves praise as he departs. He was a wise, cool, and inevitably diplomatic leader of an organisation unaccustomed to any of those attributes.

By all accounts he fought the good fight in the face of snakes within and without the PCB. He supported his captain Inzamam because he believed in stability as the overwhelming force to resurrect Pakistan cricket. And he supported Bob Woolmer, perhaps the most respected coach in international cricket and a man who Pakistan will find it next to impossible to replace.

But Shaharyar's moment of triumph came with the verdict in the ball-tampering controversy. The PCB made mistakes, of course, like all sides in the dispute, but ‘waffling’ on Sky television was not one of them. Indeed, Shaharyar was always a smooth and assured performer with the media and made strides in presenting a positive image of Pakistan cricket and addressing some of its failings.

How his replacement Dr Nasim Ashraf will fare is an open question? He has talked immediately of the cricket board being run by professional administrators and leaving cricket to the cricketers. This has become a clichéd introduction from all new chairmen, a vision they seem quick to promise but clueless to realise. He has dramatically reinstated Younis Khan and dismissed Mushtaq Ahmed. In both these actions he has shown he is boss, but whether these are the actions of a megalomaniac or a principled leader is not yet known?

Another worry, however, is Younis Khan. Pakistan's acting captain had done much over the last two years to prove to the PCB, the media — including me — and the fans that he was best placed to succeed Inzamam — even if all the players were not yet convinced. The Champions Trophy offered an ideal opportunity to demonstrate his skills. But in a moment of misplaced pride, warped logic, and gross stupidity Younis relinquished the captaincy.

Confidence in his leadership is replaced by doubt in his ability to handle the pressure and the intrigues of the top job. His behaviour has unleashed a rollercoaster of emotions within the team and without.

Younis has multiplied the pressure and the price on his head.

The need to succeed in the Champions Trophy has acquired greater urgency. Pakistan can still win, of course, but the stakes have been raised to fever pitch. Ironically, the Champions Trophy has now become an intense examination of Younis's leadership, exactly the kind of hasty evaluation he was seeking to avoid.