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By Muhammad Ali

LAHORE: Former Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) director general Zakir Hussain Syed has blasted the present management of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for ruing cricket affairs in the country. “The victory of the Pakistan team in the ICC Twenty20 World Cup brought great joy and relief for this beleaguered nation and may have provided some relief for PCB chief Ijaz Butt and his cronies. But the fact remains that cricket affairs in Pakistan continue to be very poorly managed, and at times one gets the impression that people at the helm of affairs have no clue about sports management concepts,” Zakir said while talking to Daily Times on Friday.

Zakir said when Ijaz took over he brought in a large number of cricketers giving a general impression that the PCB was a Cricketers’ Employment Board. “He then realised that all those cricketers had much better cricketing credentials than himself and he tried to sideline Javed Miandad. A fighter from his cricketing days, Miandad forced his way back with a vengeance. Dismissal of coach Geoff Lawson was not only crude but also needless with the PCB having to pay the fee of remaining period that was a great wastage. I wonder if Ijaz would have indulged in that sort of wastage in a personal concern,” he maintained.

Zakir said the attack on the Sri Lankan cricketers was an unprecedented disaster not only for cricket but also for all sports in Pakistan as no other sports team was now willing to visit Pakistan. “The reaction of the PCB to this tragedy was unbelievably naive. Nobody went with the injured Sri Lankan players or visited Sri Lanka afterwards to express their regrets to the their families or pay some financial compensation to them.” He said the PCB had promised security arrangements provided to a head of a state. “Did the Sri Lankans get that security and if not then the entire blame rests with the PCB officials because it was they who had made this commitment.”

Zakir, a renowned sports commentator and columnist, said former Test leg spinner Abdul Qadir, who along with his selection committee members was responsible for selection of the team that won the Twenty20 World Cup, had resigned in disgust while the other members of his selection committee had been sacked on the flimsy grounds that they were employees of other organisations. “Everyone knew where they were employed and what was the source of their livelihood. Only the PCB chairman took six months to learn this ground reality! They could have been easily given an honourable way out but then people with complexes have to do such things to show their authority and to show who is the big boss.”

Perhaps very few people in Pakistan know that Zakir ran the PCB single handedly for nearly six months after the resignation of Abdul Hafeez Kardar, a former Test cricketer, in 1976 making all the arrangements for Pakistan cricket team’s tour to Australia and West Indies including securing enhanced guarantee money for the Australian tour from the Australian Cricket Board that comprised of Sir Donald Bradman and renowned banker Tim Caldwell.

“Some of the examples of administrative mess up in the PCB mentioned earlier can be attributed to lack of efficiency and management skills but what has now happened is unbelievable,” he maintained. Zakir said the PCB should have worked out a comprehensive strategy of damage control in the aftermath of the Sri Lankan team disaster but they did not. “Immediately after the crisis, I had suggested that Pakistan as current president of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) should immediately convene an emergency meeting of the ACC, present its view point and seek institutional support from them. It would have also enabled them to assess their support base in Asia. Nobody bothered about it. But what Ijaz did was unbelievable and showed extreme clumsiness.”

He said the most important event in the ACC annual calendar was its Annual General Meeting that either preceded or followed the ICC meeting. “Because of the problems being faced by Pakistan, Ijaz should have done serious homework for this conference as its president. Instead he took the unprecedented step of abandoning the ship and flew to Pakistan to attend the functions hosted by Pakistan President, Prime Minister and the Speaker of the National Assembly. Can you imagine any other president of the ACC from any other country doing that?”

Zakir, a former ACC development manager for cricket, said when Ijaz first met the officials of the ACC, he is said to have raised issues that could not have been raised even by the most ill-informed persons: such as bringing the ACC back to its rotation system with respective cricket boards instead of the current permanent office in Malaysia, possible dismissal of staff and other non important issues. “What a brilliant attitude from a head of well established organisation! No wonder India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh have all opposed Pakistan on critical issues, thanks to Ijaz’s lack of understanding of priorities.”

Zakir, who also served as a correspondent for London-based magazine ‘Cricketer International’ for 25 years, said Ijaz had informed media that the ICC had accepted 90 percent of demands of the PCB. “Is this so? One only has to look at the ground realities to reach the conclusion how people can live in a fool’s paradise.” Zakir said India was now squarely opposing Pakistan’s stated position and the country had no support, not even in Asia. “It is indeed a great pity and a sad day for Pakistan cricket. Let big names of Pakistan cricket like Imran Khan, Wasim Akram and Ramiz Raja come forward and help restore the image of Pakistan cricket at international level regardless of the complexes of individuals. After all, the image of Pakistan cricket is far more important than keeping incompetent people in saddle regardless of their political connections,” Zakir concluded.