RAWALPINDI, May 1: Players contracts along with that of coach Javed Miandad were finalised during a meeting of the top two officials of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) here on Thursday.
Lt. Gen Tauqir Zia, chairman of the PCB and his newly appointed Chief Executive Officer, Ramiz Raja sat face to face for about four hours before giving shape to the contracts besides discussing various other matters.
The contracts to the players were to be handed over on Thursday evening ahead of the tri-nation tournament starting in Sri Lanka on May 10. Miandad’s contract, finalised after its salient features were discussed with him, was also to be given to him the same evening.
Ramiz Raja said that they were close to finalising the central contracts of the players which would given to a select number of players.
The meeting also finalised the charter of duties for the team management “so that there is job clarity” and discussed the domestic cricket structure 2003-2004. “We have to be absolutely certain about the product we will be launching. It not only has to be saleable but also competitive and talent producing.”
The two officials did not to talk about the organisational structure of the PCB.
Meanwhile Tauqir and Ramiz also talked about Saturday’s meeting of the Asian Cricket Foundation (ACF) that is being held in Dubai.
The meeting has gained significance because Tauqir and Jagmohan Dalmiya, the head of the ACF and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are expected to discuss resumption of cricket ties between the two nations.
But Tauqir, who is to leave for the United Arab Emirates on Friday, said earlier this week that any initiative would now have to come from India. “We have done what we could, we have bent backwards as much as we could, so any initiative should now come from them.”
The Indian government does not allow its team to play Pakistan in bilateral events while permitting them to compete only in multi-nation tournaments like the World Cup in South Africa where the two sides met in March.
There are signs of revival though with the political leaders from both countries taking confidence building steps and Tauqir hoped that once talks began, so would cricket between the two countries.