THE chaotic situation the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has been dragged into through years of sheer mismanagement has now finally come to a point where it is in dire need for revamp and repair. Without it there could be plenty more in store to hang our heads in shame and make us a laughing stock in the cricketing world as we have now become in the last few years.

Therefore, it is important that we stop unwarranted rhetoric before initiating removal of the mess which throughout years of neglect has developed into a cancer putting the patient in the PCB on deathbed. So, unless and until remedial steps are taken for improvement of the chaotic affairs of the PCB the situation may worsen beyond control and surgery.

For anyone following this enchanting game, the PCB turmoil has now become a sickening joke with mature men behaving childishly going in and out of the court in their struggle to occupy the cherished chair at the headquarters of the game in Pakistan. The ongoing power struggle in the PCB does not leave a healthy sign of the way things have been handled particularly during the last few months.

Pakistan cricket, in a tug-of-war for power, has been going through administrative crisis at the cost of the game and now that the highest court of the country has been involved to help sort out PCB issues we assume that all stakeholders wait for the court decision and respect it even in case Najam Sethi is asked to lead the organisation towards a just and transparent elections within a given timeframe.

Only through this way the game of musical chairs would come to end and it could only be possible if everyone contributes by focusing on the game’s welfare rather than being on a collision course. And if Sethi succeeds in what others have failed over the years in creating a workable infrastructure then only he will be remembered.

In the modern cricket set-up the aim is to bring your own administration and coordinate various tasks that suit the workforce and that is what need to be kept in mind while taking the organisation in this case the PCB to a level which is at par with others.

It is also very weak argument when runner of the board is criticised for not being a former cricketer, for majority of the cricket boards and their administrations throughout the world are run by professionals not cricketers besides it is not imperative as to who is at the helm of affairs but it is of utmost importance as to who can do the job in a better way.

Obviously people with vested interests and having aspirations of grabbing power would from time to time create obstacles condemning and criticising one thing or the other but as long as one is able to bring in desired results in the end is what really matters. ‘End justifies the means’ is what Machiavelli’s philosophy happens to be and successful people do believe that it has its own merits.

Also, I have been reading about appointments of tainted players in the present PCB set-up. What is a tainted person anyway? It could be someone totally innocent who has been tainted because of allegations made but not proven and it could be a person who has been proven guilty for the allegations made.

Mike Atherton, the top man in English cricket as a writer and commentator who was also England’s captain, was fined £1,000 on allegations of ball-tampering. Shane Warne and Mark Waugh, after being fined $5,000 each by Australian cricket authorities for passing information to bookies, are tainted players too but are still playing their role in their country’s cricket in some capacity. And I can name many.

The point is that none of the tainted players have been convicted by the court of law nor are the players given the job in the PCB set-up. Some of them were fined by Justice Qayyum for being ‘economical with the truth’ and not for being found guilty for the allegations made against them. I therefore think that let bygones be bygones and concentrate on what is at hand — the health of Pakistan cricket.

And it can be made healthier only if an honest effort is made by all who hold the game in high regard.

Published in Dawn, May 26th, 2014