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Ever wondered who the mute people working in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) are? The media managers.
How can one blame them; there is often not much left to say for them because the official chairman Shahryar Khan does all the talking.
One can hardly see or hear other heads of cricket boards commenting on a daily basis on their respective cricketing affairs. They have people hired to perform this specialised job and, unlike the PCB media people, they are vocal when the need arises.
Shahryar Khan, a seasoned and popular diplomat from back in his heydey, has to deal with an embarrassing situation almost every time he goes behind the microphone for his “media talk.”
Take, for example, the press conference for the announcement of Pakistan’s World T20 team. Interestingly, when he said, “I have gathered the media persons to announce that the PCB will send its cricket team to India,” one of the reporters interrupted and said that it has already been announced.
Khan asked the gentleman in a naïve manner, “who has announced this news?” No points for guessing, the man said: Najam Sethi.
Pakistan cricket has a history of doing things differently. Shahryar Khan is the official chairman but Najam Sethi is the so-called de-facto chairman.
In the past, Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf played musical chairs for some time, bringing condemnation from all quarters and making the PCB a laughing stock in the cricketing world.
But, in the current state of affairs, the good thing is that both men are not at loggerheads with each other (at least not in open). And the reaction of Shahryar Khan to the embarrassing situation in that press conference proves that. He simply said: “I thank Najam Sethi for handling the negotiation.”
One has to acknowledge that Shahryar Khan successfully managed the Pakistan cricket side on a tough tour to India in 1999. It was a difficult tour, to say the least; that it went ahead in the first place is remarkable due to threats made by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). But the truth is that old age is now catching up with him.
On the other hand, Najam Sethi had two major goals: to stage the Pakistan Super League (PSL) and to bring Mohammad Amir back in the team. He achieved both goals. Amir has donned the Pakistan colours again, despite reservations from some quarters and few important members of the team. Secondly, the launch of the inaugural PSL was quite a success.
Even his worst critics would agree that Najam Sethi managed to stage the PSL without any sort of stench of corruption coming out of it, which is not a mean feat, considering the match-fixing news splashing all across the globe these days. Recently, tennis was rocked with malpractice allegations.
Without an iota of doubt, the decision made by the PCB (read: Najam Sethi) on Amir’s comeback to international cricket was a big one which could have grave repercussions for generations to come. During the recent tour to New Zealand, the crowd attitude towards Amir was far from friendly.
The Pakistan team is scheduled to tour England and Australia in the coming months, and judging by the reception Amir got in New Zealand, things will be quite a handful for Amir and the PCB on these two major tours.
Perhaps it is time for Shahryar Khan to call it a day and pave the way for somebody else to take over the reins of the cricket board. One good chairman would be more than enough to deal with cricket’s tough issues.
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