KARACHI, May 20: A former chief selector and ex-Test spinner, Hasib Ahsan, has clarified that he never had any aspirations to become manager of Pakistan team on their recent tour of India. In reply to the observations made by the PCB Chairman Shaharyar M Khan, Hasib said in a statement on Friday that the question of him being nominated as manager for the tour was never there since he (Hasib) had turned down the suggestion made by some people close to the cricket board.

The PCB chief had mentioned Hasib as ‘wholly unsuitable’ for such a sensitive assignment in a letter last week, addressed to Lt Gen Hamid Javaid, Chief of Staff to President Pervez Musharraf., who is also the Patron-in-Chief of the cricket board.

“I never sought to be made manager despite the fact that some people who were close to the PCB chief approached me. The question of my acceptance never arose.

“I just cannot understand why the PCB chief made such derogatory remarks about me especially when I had no intention of accepting the “offer” for several personal reasons. In fact, I had politely declined the proposal after some approaches were made to seek my availability for the Indian tour,” Hasib stated.

“I had a heart surgery some time ago which had restricted my work. The second reason was that I couldn’t have taken leave from my office for about six weeks which was the duration of the Indian tour.

“And most importantly, since I am the honorary consul of Ireland here with the responsibility of issuing visas quite often, it would not have been possible for me to spare time,” he further said.

Hasib also took exception to the PCB chief’s remarks that the reason of sidelining Hasib was because Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain, and members of the 1987 team to England along with senior cricketers and administrators had expressed the same sentiments when consulted.

“This is not true as far as I am concerned,” Hasib remarked. “One could find the evidence of my ability as manager during the 1987 tour of England in Imran’s autobiography. Imran himself has recognized my contribution which helped the team win their maiden Test series on English soil.

“In fact, that was not the end. I was chairman of the technical committee as well as a member of the executive committee for the 1987 World Cup. Both these nominations were made by the cricket board.

Hasib noted that the PCB chief had a short memory. “In the same letter Mr Khan has mentioned that he was the high commissioner to UK when I toured with the 1987 team. In fact, he was an ambassador at the time because Pakistan was not a Commonwealth country since its membership was suspended.”