LAHORE: A letter of the Ministry of Inter-provincial Coordination (IPC), issued on the instructions of Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Friday, to several government departments including the Pakistan Cricket Board caused confusion as it needs clarity as far as the PCB is concerned in restoring departmental cricket, which was suspended in 2019 on the instructions of then PM Imran Khan.

The said letter issued by the IPC ministry after receiving Shahbaz’s instructions asked all the government departments to continue financing their sports departments as the previous order issued by then PM Imran on 2.9.2021 is suspended.

However PCB’s case, unlike other sports bodies, is quite different as here departments have to bear all expenses in building and fielding their teams in the national-level cricket events like the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy, National One-day Cup and T20 Cups and therefore they do not put any financial burden on the PCB, under its 2014 Constitution.

Moreover, departmental cricket was not suspended in the wake of then PM’s order issued on 2.9.2021, instead it was abolished when the new PCB constitution, which replaced the 2014 Constitution, was implemented by the federal government on Aug 19, 2019.

On the other hand, other departments like Wapda, Railways, Sui Southern Gas Company, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited, ZTBL and KRL have to field their teams in national-level tournaments with their own financial resources.

The PCB, which only provides a platform for departmental cricket in national tournaments, has no such duties.

In order to restore departmental cricket, PM Shahbaz as PCB patron-in-chief has to bring in a new constitution. The game’s organisers across the country have been demanding restoration of PCB’s constitution of 2014 which can automatically restore departmental cricket.

A significant number of cricketers lost their jobs when the PCB disaffiliated all the departments to bring in provincial-level cricket on Aug 19, 2019.

Published in Dawn, October 9th, 2022