LAHORE: National team’s dismal performance in the ongoing series in Sri Lanka has compelled the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to revisit various policies of previous chairman Najam Sethi, especially that of giving several roles to a single person.

It may be mentioned here that Sethi had not only appointed Moin Khan as chief selector but also manager of the Pakistan team besides giving him authority to select coaches for the national team.

Being at the helm of affairs in shape of being ensconced on several top positions, Moin seems to be responsible for gloomy performance of Pakistan team against Sri Lanka.

Pakistan have lost both Test matches to Sri Lanka and so far the three-match ODI rubber is also level at 1-1 as the series decider is to be played on Saturday.

As if it was not enough, former Test leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed has also been given double roles in his appointment as spin bowling coach as well as GM operation National Cricket Academy. The same goes with Mohammad Akram who is NCA head coach as well as member of the selection committee.

Ijaz Ahmed also enjoys benefits of two posts, since besides being member of the selection committee the former Test batsman has been appointed fielding coach at the NCA. And the list goes on with Mohtasham Rashid (bowling coach NCA and national women’s team coach), Ali Zia (senior general manager academies and manager of Pakistan U-17 and U-19 teams) and Shahid Aslam (assistant to Pakistan head coach Waqar Younis and NCA manager coach education) performing more than one job.

However, Pakistan team’s poor show in Sri Lanka series has set the alarm bells ringing in the PCB and concerns against Sethi-era policies are being voiced.

“The performance against Sri Lanka is unimpressive and it raises voices within the PCB against various decisions of Sethi,” sources in the PCB said.

They also expressed concern about giving several jobs to one person in the Sethi-led PCB, saying: “A good number of coaches and officials are holding more than one job under Sethi era policies but now there is realization that they are not capable of handling the work.”

The sources further said: “After Sri Lanka series a detail review will be taken to give only one post to one person.”

“Distributing key posts among a few does not create good impression about the PCB as it seems either the board lacks well-reputed persons or a specific group does not want to share powers with others,” they observed.

PCB’s other main concern is violation of its policy which bars PCB officials from making comment on team performance on different TV Channels, the sources further said.

Chief selector of the national junior team Basit Ali has been prominent in making comments on PTV Sports on the performance of the Pakistan team in the ongoing series against Sri Lanka. Being an official of the PCB he is not supposed to give comments on the team performance in public since the PCB code of conduct does not allow him.

Moreover, decision of ex-chairman Sethi to continue with the idea of his predecessor Zaka Ashraf to hold Pakistan Super League (PSL) at foreign venues has also disappointed PCB management since no strong bidders came forward to buy the rights forcing the board to shelve the PSL.

“Though Zaka decided to hold the PSL in the UAE despite the fact it can never help bring international cricket back to Pakistan, Sethi also followed in his predecessor’s footsteps. And when no interest was shown in the PSL, Sethi-led PCB was compelled to postpone the event for the time being,” maintained the sources.

Deferment of the PSL won’t help the PCB bring back international cricket to Pakistan with the sources expressing the same views, saying: “The decision of postponing the PSL will also dash PCB hopes of reviving international cricket in Pakistan next year.”

In this regard, the sources questioned: “How could one convince a country to visit Pakistan when the PCB itself prefers to hold its national event at foreign venues?”

Published in Dawn, August 29th, 2014