It is becoming increasingly difficult for all concerned to keep tabs on the dates, timelines and the court judgments that have repeatedly halted the system in the last 12 months. PHOTO: FILE
On May 19, Zaka Ashraf was reinstated — he was making tall claims of ‘putting Pakistan cricket back on track’. On May 20 there was an executive cricket consultant (Arif Abbasi) in place, and the next day, we were back to square one with the re-reinstatement of Najam Sethi after the Supreme Court’s suspension of the Islamabad High Court (IHC) orders that had reinstated Ashraf.
Come May 22 both parties were at loggerheads again — both claim they are the ‘legal’ and rightful claimants. The IHC had annulled all decisions made by Sethi during his four-month stint, including the termination of 38 employees who had approached the court. The SC’s suspension order suggests that Mr Sethi’s decisions are still in place, but Mr Ashraf and his legal experts don’t concur. The neutrals, on the other hand, are now shying away from commenting on the farce. Meanwhile, the melee is causing some serious damage. The widely fluctuating fortunes of Ashraf and Sethi have left the average PCB employee extremely uncertain and anxious about the future. There is real anxiety among the players and the coaches, too. Former captains Waqar Younis, Moin Khan, Aamir Sohail and a host of star players like Basit Ali, Shoaib Mohammad, and Ijaz Ahmed are caught in the frenzy. Zimbabwean Grant Flower is also caught in the midst of this turmoil, since he was named batting coach by Mr Sethi over a week ago.
As the drama unfolds the cricketers are quietly going about their business and have been put through an extremely taxing summer camp. One hopes their silence is not the lull before another mighty storm.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 24th, 2014.
Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.
COMMENTS (3)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
say no the corrupt and incompetent chirian wali sarkar
Najam Sethi has won the world cup 2015 for Pakistan, so relax and celebrate.
They are do will be win icc world cup 2015