Former captain Imran Khan on Sunday called for an end to ad-hocism and government interference in Pakistan cricket which he said have been damaging the game in the country.
“Ad-hocism, the influence of departmental teams and the practice of the President being chief patron of the cricket board are the three major causes for our cricket problems,” Mr. Khan said at a show “Cricket Ka Muqadma”(cricket’s trial) on Geo News channel.
“Our domestic structure is still weak and one of the main reasons for our team’s inconsistent performances. Unless we have only regional cricket and unless we end this ad-hocism in cricket nothing will improve,” he added.
“In no country is the President head of cricket board, in no country do parliamentary committees evaluate team’s performances,” he said, taking a dig at the National Assembly Standing Committee on Sports whose chairman Jamshed Dasti was also present on the show.
Mr. Khan said Pakistan cricket’s biggest mistake was changing the captains too often. “Tell me in which country is the (PCB) chairman or captain changed if a team loses. We make this mistake all the time, but we need to improve our system. Since I retired so many captains have been changed. It has served no purpose,” he said.
But former Test captains Aamir Sohail and Javed Miandad, who were also on the show, reminded Mr. Khan that in Pakistan the cricket system was different. “In no country was the board chairman nominated by the President nor did he enjoy the sweeping powers he enjoyed in Pakistan which led to unilateral decisions and problems in the team,” they said.
Mr. Khan, however, admitted that the Australian side Pakistan played against recently was one of the weakest Aussie team’s he had seen. “With the talent that we have we should have beaten them. This Australian team can be beaten by South Africa and England will also give them a tough time. But the Australians have managed to stay on top only because of their solid domestic cricket structure,” he said.
Mr. Khan, who was requested by the people interviewed in different cities during the show to head the PCB, agreed that there appeared to be a lack of discipline in the team but said this was not a serious problem and could be fixed with proper management.
Jamshed Dasti reiterated his point of view that the cricket board under chairman Ejaz Butt remained a hub of corruption. “The NA standing committee will continue to work and try to clean up the cricket set up and we will make these people accountable for causing damage to Pakistan cricket,” he said. Mr. Dasti said the committee was now anxious for President Asif Zardari to also take some notice of the poor state of affairs in cricket and appoint a new chairman.
