As announced by the man himself, the uncertainty within Pakistan Cricket Board has come to an end. And when such an announcement is made by the man himself, it means only one thing: the man is certain about his own continuity in office. That being so, it is quite an irony that Shaharyar Khan talked of a new beginning in the same breath. That really takes some doing.

According to him the prime minister, who is the PCB Patron-in-Chief — and with whom he has a “personal and family relation” going back 30 years — was much impressed by “the recent reforms I initiated — bringing new people at the helm of cricket administration, introducing a new culture of fitness, reviving the National Cricket Academy — that he asked Shaharyar to continue “for the good of cricket”. All the latter did, probably out of sheer patriotism and nothing else, was to “accept” the prime ministerial command and to “decide to see out my term”.

If his ‘new’ beginning is as impressive as he would like us to believe, and has the potential to take Pakistan Cricket forward in any meaningful manner, the prime minister could have questioned just out of curiosity why he had not done that in the last two years of what happens to be his second tenure at the top. But we all know the prime minister is recuperating after some cardiac procedure and can be pardoned for some momentary lapse in concentration. And in any case he has more pressing things to take care of than cricket, which, after all, is just another game.

The new plan already under execution is not as new as the PCB would like many to believe

And the ‘new’ actually is not quite new. Just to name a few, Intikhab Alam is very much there as the manager, and, public memory being short, it might help to remember that he was in the same capacity with the World Cup winning team in 1992 which is but a matter of about a quarter of a century.

And while the PCB is on the lookout for an individual to run the show as ‘Director Cricket’, the two main contenders in the ring happen to be no other than Haroon Rashid and Iqbal Qasim. It will be pretty much impossible for even the two gentlemen themselves to think of offices that they have not already held in Pakistan’s cricketing establishment.

If all this is new, it is hard to find anything old in the context of PCB, if not the universe itself. And when it happens under the same chairman, the proverbial old wine doesn’t even have a new label. It is more a case of old wine with an equally old label; if not older. As far as the PCB is concerned, it is crystal clear that ‘old’ is the new ‘new’.

Moving on, the new PCB plan unveiled after the two back to back debacles in the T20 format included improvement in communication with media to minimise confusion. Interestingly, it is the chairman’s visit to England itself which has been under a cloud for no rhyme or reason. Before leaving, he had mentioned more than once that he would be proceeding on his annual vacation. Once there, he continued to tell everyone that he was on leave and was maintaining himself out of his own pocket and not on PCB’s account. He even mentioned his mode of daily commute — public buses — to add a certain level of stress in his words. Just as he was making these noises came a press release issued from the PCB headquarters in Lahore, clarifying that “Chairman PCB Shaharyar Khan is not on holiday in England but on an official visit …” By the looks of it, the new plan also has a rather new definition of communication skills.

The chairman, again in his own words, also plans to request the International Cricket Council (ICC) to set up a special fund for Pakistan as a compensation for the heavy revenue losses the country has to put up with in the absence of international cricket on its soil since 2009 when the Sri Lankan team bus came under attack in Lahore. The loss, Shaharyar said, was worth millions of dollars.

“We want to use this special fund to develop and promote cricket in Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying by the media. “We will request the ICC and member countries to put aside a small percentage of its income from ICC events for this special fund for Pakistan cricket,” he added while explaining that due to financial issues, Pakistan was unable to arrange a regular bilateral series for its U-19 and ‘A’ teams, and this was affecting the development of players.

Now this was some original thinking within the PCB for some time. If the government can seek funds in the name of security, why not the PCB? The reason is as genuine as the cause. One hopes the ICC would give it due consideration and the PCB would get something out of nothing. For all practical purposes, however, Shaharyar shot his own brainchild in the foot not much later when he said a number of foreign teams were willing to come to Pakistan, but it was the PCB itself that was reluctant to take any chances by hosting international games and putting lives at risk.

After an illustrious career in diplomacy, it would not be too far ahead of Shaharyar to realise the gaffe that may well cost him his bid at the ICC meeting where he plans to raise the PCB case.

And, indeed, he would have helped his cause infinitely had he not announced an eye-popping bonus of Rs35 million for PCB employees just before leaving for the ICC meeting. Just a month ago, another hefty bonus was disbursed in the wake of the success of Pakistan Super League.

Just putting the two bonuses together would have ensured, if nothing else, a short tour for either the U-19 or the ‘A’ team. When you are throwing money around like that, it is pretty optimistic to hope that others will give you more of their money to continue to throw it around. Sanity is an early casualty in the PCB’s ‘new’ plan; the rest of the world is pretty happy with its old-world wisdom.

humair.ishtiaq@gmail.com

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 3rd, 2016