EVER since PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan took office, he has said quite a few things, sometime his actions not matching his words in the manner they should have. But with all those years of diplomatic service under his belt, he always said things that qualified the main thrust of his words, giving him technical justification to still hold the moral high ground when the words were not followed by matching actions. The detailed interview of the PCB Chairman that appeared last Sunday in this newspaper, I guess, was a bit different from the routine press conferences and briefings that officials generally indulge in.
Like all the followers of the game, I also read with great interest what the PCB chairman had to say on key issues, and it was nice to note that this time Shaharyar Khan did say a few unqualified things, like setting a timeframe for ending ad-hocism in the Board, conceding that the PCB was overstaffed, reiterating like never before his commitment to following a policy of merit in terms of all appointments, and acknowledging that there was a conflict of interest in action when the chief executive gets active on more fronts than one.
He started off by saying that people would be surprised to hear that he wants to set things right in the Board and take it back to normal constitutional functioning within three to four months, which means when the fresh season starts we will have a fully functional PCB in place. He was right. At least I was surprised when I read that, but, for sure, it was a very pleasant surprise. Though I didn’t find in the interview anything about getting the PCB accounts audited within that timeframe, I would like to assume that it would also be on the agenda. A new beginning in the new season sounds fantastic, and, as I said, this is an unqualified promise that the PCB chairman has made in public, and I find no reason not to take his words on face value. When all this does actually take place, which I am sure it will, that would be the biggest contribution to Pakistan cricket by Shaharyar Khan, and he would be long remembered as the person who saved the game from total disaster in the country.
On the issue of the conflict of interest, again, the PCB Chairman has come out very clearly, leaving no one is doubt that the chief executive was wearing various hats against his wishes, and that it was the PCB Patron who had to be convinced to make a take-it-or-leave-it offer to the person concerned. Since the chief executive has been nominated directly by the patron, naturally he is the only one who can revise the decision. I think Shaharyar Khan deserves the empathy of all the followers of the game in Pakistan, as the technicality is forcing him to continue with the setup that was in place before he took over. He was asked what he would do if the decision was left to him, and he was as forthright as anyone in his position could afford to be. “In that case, I would definitely want to do away with any potential conflict of interest, let me put it that way,” he was quoted in the interview. The language may have a diplomatic orientation, but he has removed all doubts about what he personally thinks of the issues involved in case the setup is allowed to continue in its present form. I, along with millions of others in the country, hope that Shaharyar Khan would be able to sell his line of reasoning to the Patron as well, and this public embarrassment would come to an end within the timeframe that has now been set by the PCB chairman.
On a personal note, I thank Shaharyar Khan for naming me as the sole exception among former players, and finding my comments constructive even when they are critical of PCB policies. I am most certain that there are others as well who have nothing but the cause of Pakistan cricket close to their heart, and hope that the PCB boss realize their contribution as well to the national debate. In this context, it is also interesting that while the PCB chairman finds my comments worthwhile, the PCB chief executive has repeatedly threatened in the media to file legal cases against me for being “biased” in my comments and “indulging in slender.” This is a funny world, indeed!
EVER since PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan took office, he has said quite a few things, sometime his actions not matching his words in the manner they should have. But with all those years of diplomatic service under his belt, he always said things that qualified the main thrust of his words, giving him technical justification to still hold the moral high ground when the words were not followed by matching actions. The detailed interview of the PCB Chairman that appeared last Sunday in this newspaper, I guess, was a bit different from the routine press conferences and briefings that officials generally indulge in.
