Comment: Shaharyar Khan — always speaking, seldom thinking

When the PCB chief ’s drastic ‘slips of tongues’ are this regular, the pink slip is perhaps the best solution

Shaharyar Khan has always been held in high esteem as a diplomat who often works with the theory of ‘you are right but I am not wrong either’, hence succeeding in coming up with a middle ground that manages to satisfy all parties involved.

However, there are certain reservations regarding his performance as Pakistan cricket’s chief and how he has dealt with the pressure and expectations that come with a role of such high scrutiny.

Apart from Zimbabwe tour of Pakistan, Shaharyar has few achievements on his resume as the cricketing head. He has been unable to call a spade a spade, often being forced to retract his words.

Shaharyar failed to control player power in his first tenure as Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman, and in the second he has been regularly failing to control himself — often commenting out of place and then labelling those comments as slips of tongue.

Read: Shahryar Khan expects 'high standards' as Pakistan confirm England series in UAE

In a recent interview with an English website, Khan stated that he was not a great fan of T20 cricket and has therefore left the project of Pakistan’s proposed T20 league to Najam Sethi and others.

He even went on to say that his advice was not taken up by PCB officials regarding hosting the league in Pakistan, even if top players decided against coming to the country.



His statements infuriated PCB officials and governing board members as he had previously backed the project during a meeting of the board of governors.

The chain of events that followed was inevitable. Shaharyar hastily released a statement extending a warm welcome to the T20 league’s project director Salman Sarwar Butt and external consultants Repucom, adding that the recent interview had misinterpreted his views on the Pakistan Super League (PSL).

“I have just had an update from the PSL secretariat and am very happy with the progress they are making,” he said. “I have full confidence in the PSL being successfully organised outside Pakistan. I am sure that all issues will be successfully dealt with by our PSL secretariat.”

Shaharyar also showed no reservations against the shortest formats of the game. “I am excited by the prospect of PSL and I wish our team, led by the PCB Executive Committee, all the best for this endeavour.”

In just 24 hours, Shaharyar had changed his stance; replacing claims of the T20 league looking dicey and his advice not being taken with an ‘all is well’ slogan.

Shaharyar’s words are hurting not only his own credibility but also of the board’s. The record must be set straight either by Shaharyar or by the board’s other top officials because there is a problem somewhere along the line that usually manifests itself in the PCB chief’s foot being in his mouth.

Read: PCB wants ICC task force to visit Pakistan

The issue should be taken up strictly with the PCB chairman whenever the next governing body meeting takes place.

It is important for the cricket board to keep improving the credibility of the T20 league which has already been postponed twice if they want to build a positive hype around it. Right now there seem to be serious reservations from within, which would only serve to dent the confidence of foreign cricketers who would otherwise want to be part of the league.

The PCB chief saying one thing one day and changing his words the next will not help the board’s cause. When such drastic ‘slips of the tongue’ are this regular, the pink slip is perhaps the best solution.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 29^th,  2015.

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