LAHORE, Dec 21: Pakistan’s most successful cricket supremo, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Zahid Ali Akbar, during whose tenure Pakistan lifted the World Cup-92 declared that drastic steps were required by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to repair the damage it has caused to cricket, due to wrong policies in preparing a formidable side for the next World Cup.

Zahid who remained president of the then Board of Control for Cricket in Pakistan (BCCP) from 1987-92, said that PCB would not be able to field a match-winning combination in South Africa due to inconsistent policies adopted by the board.

The former cricket chief in whose time Pakistan had hardly lost a series in five years alleged that PCB had shaken the confidence of world class players of the calibre of Wasim Akram, Saeed Anwar and Saqlain Mushtaq due to wrong planning.

 He said that after wasting a lot of time, now PCB was thinking to appoint Wasim as captain and again calling Saeed when the world cup was round the corner.

Zahid remarked that PCB should appoint Wasim as the captain of the team not only for the World Cup, but also for the two Test match series against South Africa starting from Dec 26. The team could perform better under Wasim’s captaincy and win the series to boost the morale of the team, he added. He rates Wasim as an equally good cricketer and captain as Imran Khan.

Zahid claimed that Saeed was still one of the best openers available in Pakistan. But what a pity that he (Saeed) had been struggling to get a place in the team.

He suggested to the PCB to give maximum encouragement and backing to both Saeed as opener and Wasim as captain. Saeed was dropped after the ICC champions’ trophy held in Sri Lanka in September this year.

However, the former cricket boss advised that appointment of Wasim as captain should not be at the cost of Waqar Younis’s ouster from the squad as the present captain was an essential part of the team

He suggested the PCB to announce the final 15-member team at once, arrange strenuous training here, prepare bouncy wickets similar to the South African pitches and hold matches on these surfaces till the departure of the team for the mega event.

Zahid while criticising PCB said that it had failed to make continuity in its policies and said that during his term in office he had Intikhab Alam as the only coach-cum-manager while Javed Burki and Zafar Altaf worked as chief selectors while Imran and Javed Miandad remained as captains.

Zahid believed that if one had made correct selection for every post then there was no need for making quick changes and pointed out that he never interfered in the affairs of the selection committee and captain.

He said that he ran the BCCP with only five members of staff which cost only Rs 20,000 per month. He added when he took over the charge of the BCCP only a meagre amount of Rs 0.9 million was in the kitty.

But when I left it had been raised to Rs20 million despite there were no lucrative advertisement offers from the electronic media in those days.