Arif Abbasi appointed chief consultant

Zaka Ashraf hopes to benefit from former official’s experience.

KARACHI:

Restored Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman Zaka Ashraf appointed the governing body’s former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Arif Abbasi as his chief consultant on Tuesday.

Ashraf said that Abbasi brings a respected name and he would take full advantage of his experience.

“I would like to utilise his expertise to take our cricket forward, while he can also help us improve our image internationally,” said Ashraf.

The chairman elaborated that Abbasi has been roped in for consultancy matters and that the current Chief Operating Officer (COO) will continue to work.

He further revealed that the governing board has been formed and a meeting would take place on Wednesday.

Abbasi had been instrumental in introducing the rule of neutral umpires in international cricket.

Talking about the uncertainty regarding Pakistan cricket, he said that taking the matter of PCB’s chairmanship to court repeatedly is unfair and added that a continuous change at the helm is damaging Pakistan’s image internationally.

When asked about the ‘Big Three’, Abbasi replied that he prefers calling them the ‘Corrupt Three’, quoting the example of suspended Board of Control for Cricket in India chief N Srinivasan, who has been undergoing a trial on fixing charges.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2014.

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