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If the record of his first six months in office is anything to go by, the chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board is a single-minded person… so single-minded that he is making the phrase ‘double-minded’ look like something of a positive attribute.
He seems to have a blinkered view of happenings around him which renders him unable to adjust to the shifting ground positions. The good thing about him is that he is not prone to talking too much in public which spares him a few blushes. Had it been anything close to the practice of his predecessor Ijaz Butt, it would have been a deadly combination on all counts.
Ever since he took over the PCB, all his focus has been on somehow or the other get some international side to visit Pakistan. He has not made the offer in public, but by the looks of it he would agree to any team coming straight to the ground, play a Twenty20 game and return straight back to the airport for a safe journey home. He is desperate with a capital ‘D’.
With just days into office, he set it as his priority and went about the business with, of course, single-minded determination. He may be an extremely sincere person, but sincerity alone is not what one needs to run an organisation like PCB. He was a complete nonentity as far as foreigners were concerned. That he was an equally complete nonentity for most Pakistanis as well is something that doesn’t matter in the equation. But for such a person to start intermingling with foreigners in pursuit of a specific agenda that had, and has, serious and sensitive connotations, was nothing short of foolhardiness.
Within weeks, he was talking of revival of cricketing ties with India, and bargaining with the Bangladeshis to visit Pakistan against nomination for ICC vice-presidency. Now, anyone who has the slightest idea of how the Indian board works vis-à-vis Pakistan and its players would have thought twice—maybe thrice or even more—before making such lofty pronouncements.
The Indian board is known to have been less than just in its direct dealings with Pakistan, but is also known to have arm-twisted other nations—especially Bangladesh and Sri Lanka—to be cautious in their dealings with us. The manner in which the Pakistani players have been thrown out of the Indian Premier League is public knowledge.
And yet, the PCB boss took little time in announcing his willingness to undertake a tour to India despite the fact that an Indian tour to Pakistan was, and is, pending since 2009. It took weeks for sanity to prevail when he clarified that any visit will have to be first cleared by the foreign ministry. This, naturally, is the standard operating procedure and he should have known it before opening his mouth, but his single-minded enthusiasm took the better of him.
In his dealings with the Bangladeshis, he again could not see the fact that India conveyed to Bangladesh its willingness to host it for a full tour; something that India has never done before owing to the low commercial value of hosting Bangladesh. It suits India to isolate Pakistan, but the PCB was clearly unable to work out a plan to overcome the hurdle in a practical manner.
While India walked away smilingly, the Bangladeshis had their share of laughter as well. They promised the undertake a tour, got their nomination in the ICC from Pakistan, and then refused to tour because someone moved the Supreme Court there against it and the cricket board didn’t argue against the decision. And all this while, the PCB chairman kept calling all this stuff ‘rumours’. How much more ridiculous it could get?
It was also because of his single-minded pursuit to have some foreigners around that the country now has a foreign coach and some foreign staff with team. Had it not been for his fascination with foreigners and foreign teams, he might have found it feasible to continue with Mohsin Khan under whom the team had been performing well. The unit had swept clean two entire tours—Sri Lanka and Bangladesh—in all formats, before beating England, the world champions, 3-0, which was the first time in the history of national cricket.
Mohsin may not have been a qualified coach, but anybody who had delivered such goods deserved to continue… at least for his lucky charm, if nothing else. But he was sent packing and Dav Whatmore is now here probably to repeat what went on earlier with Bob Woolmer and Geoff Lawson.
The latest on the platter of the PCB boss is the Pakistan Premier League with which he hopes to attract some foreign players. One wonders why he can’t concentrate on domestic cricket which has been neglected for so long, and has the potential to serve the country well for years to come. It would be a singular contribution for which he will be remembered for ever. But, naturally, it won’t earn him the quick round of applause that he is so desperately and single-mindedly seeking.
