Strong domestic structure key to success: Shahryar Khan

PCB chairman says board will soon advertise to attract sponsors for the regional and district teams

KARACHI: Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Shahryar Khan said that the domestic structure needed to be strengthened in order to find future talent for the game of cricket.

He was addressing the media after the general body meeting which was being held 'after three years'.

"The general body meeting was held after three years so that everyone could get a chance to put forward their perspectives," said Shahryar.

"The new general manager for women cricket in Pakistan Shamsa Hashmi was also present in the meeting and we assured her that good things are on their way for the female cricketers."

Furthermore, Shaharyar said that bagging valuable sponsorship for regions and districts was very important for the game to grow.

"We will soon advertise to attract sponsors for the regional and district teams," he said.

"We have firms and investors lined up who want to sponsor regional and district teams and we need them at the moment. PCB can pay the regions and districts but we cannot pay them enough. If we can pull in the sponsors it will be a great help."

He also welcomed four new districts to the PCB general body.

"We have added four new districts to our general body which include Khuzdar, Lasbela, Jaffarabad and Jamshoro."

"Overall, it was a good session and we asked everyone to move forward together in order to accomplish great things. We want that our regions and districts should prosper and improve their standards of cricket. Money is an important factor here. If it keeps flowing in, a lot of things can be done but merit should always be kept in mind as well."

Moreover, he stated that the team is and will always be selected on merit and not on the recommendations of the regions and districts.

"We will select our national team on merit and not recommendations sent by the regions and districts," said Shahryar.

He also emphasised on the importance of academies by saying, "Building new academies to train our young cricketers is of prime importance. We had a half-built academy in Karachi and we completed it. We have one in Lahore. But we are planning a few more in Multan, Faisalabad and Rawalpindi. Plus, we would also make sure that proper coaching is provided to the players coming in."