Shaharyar Khan receives green signal from PM to continue as PCB chief

Octogenarian's two-year tenure at board's helm is supposed to end in August

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shaharyar Khan, whose two-year term at the board’s helm ends in August, may not be leaving his post soon.

Press Trust of India (PTI) on Friday quoted a source as saying that Shaharyar, who is on vacation, met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in London and the premier has given him a green signal to continue as the PCB chief.

"He has now been told by the patron in chief of the PCB that he should continue working and not step down in August as he had planned earlier," the source said.

The Octogenarian had earlier told PTI that whenever the team performs badly, former cricketers demand a sacking of team management and officials which might be the reason for him to leave the post when his two-year tenure ends in August.

However, according to the source, Shaharyar discussed cricketing matters in detail with the PM and is now ready to carry on.

“Any issues between Shaharyar and his predecessor Najam Sethi, who is now heading the executive committee of the board, have also been sorted and the latter has also encouraged Shaharyar to continue working as chairman,” the source added. “Although the two heavyweights at times didn't agree on some issues but generally they are comfortable working together in the board.”

Special fund for PCB

Earlier on Monday, Shaharyar Khan had said he will request the International Cricket Council (ICC) to set up a special fund to ‘develop and promote’ cricket in the country.

He further said that the fund will also be used to compensate for the heavy revenue losses the board has to bear due to organising matches in the UAE, away from home.

 “We want to use this special fund to develop and promote cricket in Pakistan,” Shaharyar, who is scheduled to represent Pakistan at the annual ICC meetings from June 27 in Edinburgh, told PTI prior to his departure for London.

“We will request the International Cricket Council and member countries to put aside a small percentage of its income from ICC events for this special fund for Pakistan cricket,” he added.

Pakistan lost the trust of international teams back in 2009 when the Sri Lankan team bus was attacked by armed militants in Lahore and Shaharyar estimates that they have suffered losses in millions of dollars due to the absence of international cricket in the country.

“When we play a series in UAE the costs are high and generation of revenues not good enough for us. As a result we are losing revenues annually and that eats into our funds set aside for development purposes and for our affiliated regional associations,” said Shaharyar.

The octogenarian said financial constraints disallowed them to organise bilateral series for U-19 and A teams which affected development of players.

The PCB chief admitted that until the security situation is not completely favourable, calling any team to tour Pakistan will be a risk.

“The security situation throughout the world is not stable but things are improving in Pakistan. But it is very difficult to say for certainty when we can host international teams at home. We don’t want to take decisions in haste and regret it later,” he said.