LAHORE: A bunch of same old faces who were chiefly responsible for everything that went wrong in the ICC World Cup held in Australia-New Zealand will come together in the inaugural meeting of ‘2015 World Cup review group’ here on Friday.

Interestingly, there are no bold steps on the cards when the review group starts its work today since the PCB has already taken several key decisions including the appointment of ODI captain, vice-captains and the national selection committee.

A media release issued by the PCB on Thursday said: “PCB’s newly formed five-member World Cup’15 Review Group shall meet for the first time here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Friday morning. The five-member World Cup-15 Review Group consists of PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan, executive committee chairman Najam Sethi, COO Subhan Ahmed, Wasim Bari and Iqbal Qasim.”

The PCB, in some significant decisions taken last Monday, appointed top-order batsman Azhar Ali as ODI captain in place of Misbah-ul-Haq besides naming wicket-keeper/batsman Sarfraz Ahmed Azhar’s deputy. Azhar was also appointed vice-captain of the Test team while Sarfraz was installed deputy to the T20 skipper. Misbah and Shahid Afridi have been retained as Test and T20 captains, respectively.

In a new-look selection committee named the same day, Haroon Rasheed will head the body with Azhar Khan, Saleem Jaffer and Kabir Khan as the members.

The appointments made by the PCB to the so-called ‘review group’ however depict a tedious picture. After Pakistan’s crashing exit from the World Cup in the quarter-finals stage, it would have been indeed much more appropriate had the Board formed an independent body — rather than inserting its own personnel who have been part of the PCB in different capacities — to review the team’s poor show in the showpiece Down Under.

In fact, apart from Bari, almost all those included in the review group made several decisions on the World Cup preparations besides approving different appointments.

Furthermore, some sources are claiming that Bari — the only outsider in the review group — will also soon get a job in the PCB and, therefore, he may not be able to play his role as an independent member of the group.

Regrettably, the PCB proved with its actions on several occasions in the past that it could not take bold decisions regarding any major player or official, particularly in the wake of an embarrassing defeat on the field. And this World Cup 2015 review group is no exception. Therefore, it can be cautiously expected that burning issues that led to the team’s distressing ouster from the World Cup will be swept under the carpet.

Take Moin Khan as a test case.

The former Test captain — simultaneously acting as chief selector, national team manager and member of the coaches-finding committee (for the World Cup) — held sway over Pakistan’s cricketing affairs during the last 18 months or so. Not to forget, during the same period he had remained the national head coach too.

As he held significant influence owing to possessing multiple jobs — an unusual scenario in any efficient sports governing organisation — a weak PCB faced tremendous pressure from within as well as outside not to take any decision against the former wicket-keeper.

Interestingly, while Moin preferred his tour with the Pakistan team as manager and chief selector, he and his hand-picked six-member selection committee remained away the domestic matches.

Though Shaharyar succeeded in withdrawing the post of manager from Moin ahead of the World Cup, the ex-gloveman as the chief selector could not be prevented from accompanying the national squad to the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand — which set a a new, rather pointless, precedent.

Moin was only called back when he was seen in a casino in Christchurch — after the team had lost their first two pool stage games to India and West Indies — as the PCB faced massive criticism from all media platforms over the embarrassing incident.

Though the team after Moin’s return home clicked, winning four matches on the trot, the green-shirts finally lost their way in the quarter-final where they clashed with a well-equipped and professional Australian outfit, the eventual world champions.

It is feared that forming an ‘in-house’ body — the review group — to assess the reasons behind the team’s poor show in the World Cup may well end up in the facts eventually getting concealed.

Needless to say, an independent review group could have done the same task much better — grilling Moin, head coach Waqar Younis and other staff, for the PCB to devise a better plan for avoiding such crashes in the future.

Published in Dawn, April 3rd, 2015

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