News

Senate committee critical of Pakistan board

The Pakistan board has come in for severe criticism from the Senate Committee on Sports and Culture for the team's poor performance in the home series against India

Wisden Cricinfo staff
30-May-2004


Shaharyar Khan and Rameez Raja have plenty of explaining to do © AFP
The Pakistan board has come in for severe criticism from the Senate Committee on Sports and Culture for the team's poor performance in the home series against India. In a meeting held with PCB officials - including Shaharyar Khan, the chairman, and Rameez Raja, the chief executive - the committee was especially critical about the ad hoc nature of decision-making by the board.
According to a report in The News, a Pakistan daily, Enver Baig, one of the senators in the committee, lashed out against the PCB: "I spoke of ad hocism in the board for the last five years today and asked Shaharyar Khan how long this was going to continue and he had no answer to give.
"But he has promised that in three months time constitutional amendments would be made but the committee also told him categorically that he will not bulldoze any amendments in the constitution and he will place all the intended amendments before a general body meeting and only implement and incorporate them if they are approved by the general body."
Baig was also unhappy with the fact that Rameez continued to do commentary on television and occupy a senior position in a bank despite holding a full-time job with the board. The report stated that Rameez had the permission of the ICC and Pervez Musharraf, the chief patron of the PCB, to hold all these positions, but Baig wasn't convinced. "Rameez informed us he would be going to South Africa shortly on a commentary assignment, we asked Shaharyar who will run board affairs in his absence on a day to day basis."
The manner in which cricket is organised in the country has come in for adverse reactions following Pakistan's defeat in the Tests and the one-dayers against India, a series in which the entire country invested plenty of time, money and emotion. "Even the heavy expenditure can be justified if the team had produced good results against India," Baig explained. "But they disappointed a lot."
The committee is supposed to file a report on Pakistan cricket, and Baig warned that the board could expect more uncomfortable questions in future. "The senate committee's look into Pakistan Cricket Board affairs is not over as yet. We are not finished as yet and will be holding two more meetings in Lahore and Karachi before finalizing a report."