PCB in a total chaos: Imran Khan

Former captain urges accountability, wants free and fair elections.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan cricket can only improve once the country’s cricket board is converted into an institution with its chief being accountable for every action he takes, according to former captain Imran Khan.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) went through its darkest phase during Ijaz Butt’s tenure and his successor, Zaka Ashraf, already has pending cases against him in the SC.

“The PCB has always been in chaos and it’s gotten worse now,” Khan told The Express Tribune. “Cricket needs to be an institution and until that happens, we’ll always have chaos. You can’t have an institution when the president of the country, who knows nothing about cricket, appoints the chairman. It’s run on ad-hoc basis and you’ll only go from crisis to crisis with that.”

Pakistan cricket is also without a head coach, the hunt for which is in a fix with uncertainty surrounding the board’s future. A three-member committee was formed which submitted five names for the position but with no chairman in office, the delay forced the PCB to name chief selector Mohsin Khan as its interim coach for the series against Sri Lanka.

“It’s pointless how you’re spending so much on the coach,” added Khan. “You need to have a proper structure in place before moving onto other things. The board is reflecting the current state of our society. You need someone to fix the structure, then have free and fair elections and form a genuine elected body. That’s how the whole cricketing world works and that’s what we need as well.”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2011.