Sports

Deepening Crisis

The aftermath of the Lord's defeat claims Pakistan's cricket board

Advertisement

Deepening Crisis
info_icon

It was a tiny detail that made the differenceóonce the World Cup was in Steve Waugh's hands rather than in Wasim Akram's that day at Lord's, it was certain that Pakistan cricket had to undergo radical surgery. It wasn't a fitting way in which to cleanse the game of all its undesirable elements but perhaps, given the labyrinth of favours and intrigues at both the board and government level, it was the only one.

President Rafiq Tarar, patron-in-chief of the Pakistan Cricket Board (pcb), suspended the board on July 16 and set up a two-member ad hoc committee comprising Mujeeb-ur-Rehman and Javed Zaman. No one doubted that Pakistan's loss in the World Cup led to the decision. The suspension of the pcb was the second this decade. The first was in January '94 after a change in the government. Rehman is the brother of the powerful Saif-ur-Rehman who heads the Accountability Cellóthe one behind the cases lodged against former PM Benazir Bhutto.

Advertisement

Rehman's not known to be a cricket follower and spends much of his time in Islamabad running the family business. 'I'm not a politician and want to keep away from such things. I think a team which reaches the final of the World Cup should be praised,' he observed during his first press interview. 'However, there'll be no compromise on honesty,' he said. Rehman now is busy selecting his team of administrators so that the board can be run professionally. Sources say a shortlist has been prepared with Ramiz Raja, Imran Khan, former secretary of pcb Shahid Rafi, Majid Khan and Arif Ali Khan Abbasi among the candidates to be given some responsibilities. 'Rehman has a high regard for Imran and he might accept some post,' sources say. While the new chairman said that if innocent, the players should continue to serve the nation, he also sounded a warning: 'If I'm convinced that players are guilty, I'm not interested in proof.'

Advertisement

Those are strong words from a chairman who was fielding his first interview. Rehman is not expected to be as lenient with suspected players as outgoing chairman Khalid Mahmood was wont to be. In the wake of the change several other official committees have also started looking into the match-fixing affair. A senate sub-committee probing allegations of match-fixing against certain players, on Tuesday heard viewpoints of 10 cricketers, among them Inzamam-ul-Haq, Saeed Anwar and Moin Khan, and recommended that all investigations be finalised before commencement of the next cricket season. But Mehmood fears that after the board, players will be the next target. 'I tried to convince people that there is no truth in match-fixing allegations. But unfortunately, the people who were trying to come into the board since the World Cup have succeeded,' he says.

Meanwhile, the one-man Justice Qayyum commission is yet to submit its report. Akram reportedly wants the inquiry to be completed as soon as possible so that the players can concentrate on cricket. He also feels the ad-hoc committee should back the players. 'I hope they understand that the players require their support, they cannot be expected to do well without the backing of the administrators,' he says. Wasim dismissed reports that the ad hoc committee had been constituted on reports of indiscipline and mismanagement in the team in the World Cup: 'There was no indiscipline. We had strict curfew timings before a match. Maybe we lost focus in the final, but we didn't lose because of any indiscipline.' Avers Pakistan World Cup team manager, Zafar Altaf: 'An indisciplined team could not qualify for the final. '

Advertisement

Meanwhile, former Test cricketers and administrators, who were part of the outgoing pcb set-up, avoided comment on recent developments. But former captain Aamir Sohail, who was not considered for the World Cup, hailed the decision. 'The president has saved cricket from a major disaster,' he said. But in this fracas the game is the worst loser, and cricket lovers can only watch in despair as the saga of turbulence in Pakistani cricket continues.

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement