Meltdown in PCB

ANYONE who has even casually followed Pakistan cricket over the years will know that our cricket board’s response to losing the current Test series in England is a hysterical overreaction. After consecutive defeats at Headingley and Lord’s sealed the fate of the three-match rubber, the Pakistan Cricket Board sacked the head coach and fast-bowling coach, ordered seven players from the squad to pack their bags, and announced five novices and two recalls as their replacements. On top of that, one of the openers will be subjected to a disciplinary investigation for allegedly faking an injury. As actions of the PCB administration go, this is unprecedented. As human behaviour goes, this is lunacy. These developments have unleashed a deafening outrage, triggering embarrassing news headlines and sarcastic social media memes. That Pakistan’s cricket establishment has degenerated into such farce should come as no surprise. The PCB chairman has always been a handpicked political appointee — merit be damned. And since a fish rots from the head, there you have it. Yes, sometimes you will get lucky with the arrival of a Nur Khan or an Arif Abbasi at the helm, but these are fortuitous exceptions. A national cricket board chief is meant to be an elected official, voted in by representatives of regional cricket associations. This makes the position approachable and accountable. Instead, the practice in Pakistan is for the prime minister to dole out the PCB chairmanship as a favour or reward to an ally or acolyte. The typical outcome is whimsical and incom­­petent governance. Over time, this has resulted in a cricketing infrastructure that lacks the ability to identify, nurture and promote the best talent available. As actions of the PCB administration go, this is unprecedented. As human behaviour goes, this is lunacy. The one silver lining in this whole fiasco is that the ire of the cricket-following public has finally been deflected away from the players and squarely onto the PCB and its leadership. This is as it should be. We would normally have the players in our gunsights, as they are the most visible and hence the most obvious targets. But the blame ultimately lies elsewhere. To shine on the international stage, a cricketing tradition must rest on three pillars — an avid fan base, a rich talent pool, and a capable administration. There’s no question about the avidity of the fan base, nor about the richness of the talent pool. Just look at the whiplash that Pakistan’s cricket supporters go through with every victory and every defeat; that tells you all you need to know about their passionate commitment. As for talent, a country that has managed to produce all-time legends such as Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Younis Khan (among many others), is certainly not lacking in cricketing ability. That leaves governance and management, by far the most compromised pillar in Pakistan’s cricket edifice. It is honestly very hard to fathom what deliberations would have taken place in the upper echelons of the PCB that led to such a ridiculous knee-jerk outcome. It couldn’t have come from the high-performance director Aqib Javed, the lone international cricketer in PCB’s C-suite, because he would surely know better. Quite possibly Aqib mi­­ght have advocated for a more measured appro­ach. Yes, he has been staunchly defending the PCB’s actions in the media and on public forums, but the PCB command structure leaves him little choice. In all likelihood, the decision-making came solely from the PCB chief, Mr Mohsin Naqvi, himself. He may have asked for input from other bigwigs in the PCB’s corporate hierarchy, but none of them have any serious cricketing credentials. One can easily imagine them trying to guess what the boss wanted to hear, and then echoing it implicitly and explicitly. What thought process did Mohsin Naqvi undertake to do what he did? By the looks of it, not a very rigorous one. He is, to begin with, an overburdened man, holding the portfolio of federal minister for interior and narcotics control, in addition to his PCB hat. Moreover, he has emerged as a key member of the diplomatic team seeking peace in the Middle East, having visited Iran no less than six times since hostilities started. This mandate amounts to averting ‘World War III’, no small assignment. So we can reasonably conclude that Mr Naqvi as a cricket administrator is at best distracted, and at worst negligent. Meanwhile, there is still the issue of the cricket itself. Pakistan are scattered and scarred after losing the first two Tests. One can only imagine the terrified mood in the camp as the team anticipates the third and final Test, starting in Birmingham on Sept 9. Cricket is a funny game and a turnaround in Pakistani fortunes is theoretically possible, but the odds are of course heavily against it. The team is weak and demoralised, if not outright traumatised. Cricket fans have been left wondering if this is the worst Pakistani cricket outfit ever. It is worth remembering, however, that Pakistan cricket has seen much worse, both on and off the field. In 2002, in what is easily our worst Test scorecard ever, Pakistan faced Australia in a Test in Sharjah, totaling 59 in the first innings and 53 in the second, losing (naturally) by an innings — even though that team had included some great names. Then, in 2009, there was the terrorist attack outside Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium that nearly killed the visiting Sri Lankan side. And in 2010 we had the spot-fixing disaster, which ended two highly promising fast-bowling careers and sent three Pakistani cricketers to London’s Crown Court, and thence to prison. Thankfully, we are now far removed from those catastrophes. The challenge ahead is to improve on-field performance and restore our international competitiveness. It won’t happen overnight, but if we can somehow manage to sort out the Gordian knot that is the Pakistan Cricket Board, that would make for an appropriate start to a revival of lost glory. The writer, a professor of neurology at Aga Khan University, has written on cricket for international publications. X: @saadshafqat Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2026

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