Cricket is an obsession that cuts across age, gender, class and any other construct that you throw at it, and its presence is as ubiquitous as the weather – even those apathetic to it can’t help but be aware of the din it creates. Yet when it comes to discussing how cricket is run in the country, the focus borrows heavily from the talkshow format of dissecting political events. Individuals, particularly the chairman of the PCB, are seen as defining entire institutions. Notions of efficiency and performance are almost always judged on immediate results. Any exposé’ is limited to revelations of high salaries paid to ex-players, or certain journalists earning favours from the cricket board.

Ultimately however, while such revelations are condemnable, they also rather petty in the grand scheme of things.

Modern sport has increasingly become one of the most lucrative enterprises in the world, and sports bodies are expected to be run along corporate standards. There is doubtlessly a certain soullessness to this approach, but that discomfort doesn’t stop it from being a reality. And in such a world, the ability to be commercially successful and intuitionally viable is the basic prerequisite for any functioning sports team.

The following three reports are meant to provide an insight into the sort of problems bedevilling Pakistan cricket at the moment which threaten not just the national team’s form, but the health of the sport itself. They were conducted based on dozens of interviews both currently and formerly with the PCB, ex-players as well as members of the current national side, various representatives of commercial partners involved in Pakistani cricket and experts in the game.

Two of these stories, written by Hassan Cheema, are about the quality and standards of the very basic facets of the game – the pitches and the balls. Given that these are the basic tools with which all cricket is constructed with, their quality obviously impacts the quality of the players being produced. The third story, by Rehan-ul-Haq Sardar, explores the details behind the recent apparel deals secured by the board, and how it reflects on the board’s general commercial efforts.

It is hoped that these pieces would inspire a great incisiveness into trying to understand the importance of running cricket in a modern way. Rather than focusing on personal attacks and vindictive agendas, it would be far more useful to have open, honest discussions on solving cricket’s problems.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine August 2nd, 2015

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