Pakistan greats call for reform

Imran claims PCB chairman should be held accountable.

KARACHI: Pakistan cricket faces an abysmal future unless it cleans up the game and institutes reforms after three players were banned on corruption charges, according to former players.

Former captain Zaheer Abbas rued how spot-fixing controversies tainted Pakistan’s reputation in the cricket world. “Pakistan’s cricket image is tainted badly,” said Abbas. “But the latest bans give us a last chance to root out corruption  from our cricket or else we might be thrown out of international cricket.”

Meanwhile, Imran Khan called for upheavals in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), even after the country’s board took measures that include keeping tabs on players through an integrity committee and introducing harsher punishments in their annual contracts on the directives of the International Cricket Council.

“Our cricket system is wrong,” said Khan.“The PCB chairman  should be an elected person held accountable. What prevails in our system is that the patron of the PCB – President Asif Ali Zardari – appoints the chairman who doesn’t ban key players because he fears his team will lose and he’ll get sacked.”

Many believe Pakistan missed the chance to purge cricket after a match-fixing inquiry led by judge Malik Mohammad Qayyum saw Salim Malik and Ataur Rehman banned for life. “I conducted an inquiry which could have served as a way to purge our cricket but my recommendations to keep close eyes on Pakistan players were never followed,” said Qayyum.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2011.