LAHORE: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Zaka Ashraf has said the board invited Bangladesh to tour Pakistan after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) left the matter of playing against Pakistan on its government.“Soon after I assumed the charge, I made efforts and congratulated BCCI president N. Srinivasan and he invited me to India. But later the BCCI informed us that they needed a guideline from their government before finalising a series with Pakistan,” Zaka told Dawn in an exclusive interview on Monday.

“On it, I also decided to involve our government. Therefore, I made a contact with the foreign office to advise us on this matter,” he added.

“After the new development, we preferred to look for other alternatives and invited Bangladesh to come to Pakistan; and if they visit us in April, my next plan will be to invite Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe,” Zaka said.

When reminded that on the occasion of the last World Cup semi-final, the Indian prime minister had given a go-ahead signal for the series, Zaka said the BCCI still wanted a green signal from its government.

The chairman agreed that even BCCI’s media sponsor company had shown displeasure for suffering financial losses due to the deferment of Pakistan-India series.

The chairman hoped that Bangladesh team would arrive this year. “A security team from Bangladesh will be coming to Pakistan this month and if it returns satisfactorily, the series will be on,” he maintained.

He said the government has assured all kinds of security arrangements for the Bangladesh team.

Zaka said his next plan was to start Pakistan Premier League, on the pattern of the Indian League, involving foreign players.

“The PCB will search one business house for each participating team to start this league though the task is hard,” he said.

To a question that there was a report in the media that Australian coach Dav Whatmore had resigned from the IPL assignment and if he would be the next head coach of the Pakistan team, Zaka refused to reply and added that “the PCB committee (headed by Intikhab Alam) is searching new coaches and that is the only authority to give reply of this question”.

“I want only the best separate coaches for fielding, bowling and batting departments,” he said.

“Though the team is doing well, we are still looking for improvement to defeat sides like Australia and England,” he said.

“Mohsin Khan is also doing a good job as head coach. Therefore, we have also asked him to file his application as candidate for the post,” he said.

To a question regarding the instructions of the ICC to implement democratic system in the PCB by June 2013, Zaka said he had not taken any step towards its implementation.

“I have discussed the matter with the ICC to know what it really wants from us, but so far no step was taken in this regard. We will seek government’s guidance in this regard,” he said.

He dispelled the impression that he had decided to strike a deal with the regional heads, affiliated with the PCB, under which all 11 heads would become the permanent members of the PCB’s Governing Board and in return they would elect him as the new PCB chairman.

Besides Pakistan, two other countries — Sri Lanka and Bangladesh — are to introduce democratic set-ups. There are reports that both countries have done major work in this regard.

Asked the PCB’s Governing Board had been running for many years without its full strength of 15 members, the chairman said it would also be discussed when the PCB considers to adopt the democratic set-up.

Almost four technocrat seats of the Governing Board are still lying vacant, after some members had resigned soon after the previous chairman Ijaz Butt took over the charge in 2008.

Similarly, the existing members like Intikhab Alam, Javed Miandad and Wazir Ali Khoja have completed their two-year term but the PCB’s patron-in-chief President Asif Ali Zardari has not announced their replacements.

Zaka rejected the impression of groupings in the Pakistan team and added the players were completely following the code of conduct.

“The Pakistan team has been improving since the last six months despite spot-fixing’s verdict in England,” he said.

Asked Ijaz Butt had claimed that he had left Rs5 billion in the PCB’s kitty and another Rs6 billion would be added to the exchequer by the end of 2012, Zaka said the balance was around Rs4 billion when he took the charge and that he did not see chances of getting the other Rs6 billion.

To a question, Zaka also rejected the impression that he had insulted the stalwarts like Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Sarfraz Nawaz, Iqbal Qasim and some others by giving them a recommendatory role in a committee which was formed for the improvement of domestic cricket.

“There is no doubt they all are renowned cricketers, but when I met them separately they all had different opinions about the domestic structures. Therefore, I asked them to sit together and exchange their thoughts and then give suggestions,” Zaka concluded.