The Pakistan Cricket Board will set up an inquiry to find out the reasons behind the national team’s poor performance in the recent three-Test series against South Africa, said its chairman Ehsan Mani. Pakistan suffered a 0-3 defeat to South Africa in the Test series and Mani said that recent results were disappointing and understandably cricket fans were also upset with these performances. Talking to the media in Islamabad, Mani said that after the tour to South Africa is over, the PCB would have an inquiry into the team’s poor Test performances. “No doubt everyone is disappointed with the way our team played in the Test series in South Africa. We will do our best to find out the causes of defeat by holding an in-depth inquiry,” Mani said. Pakistan were whitewashed by the South Africans and before that they lost a three-match Test series to New Zealand in the UAE by 1-2 as well. A well-informed source in the board was quoted as saying that Mani had already spoken to head of the cricket committee Mohsin Khan and asked him to meet with his committee members and prepare a report on what they felt went wrong in the Test matches. The cricket committee also includes former captains, Wasim Akram and Misbahul Haq and former national women’s team skipper Urooj Mumtaz. Though the cricket committee can only recommend and make suggestions to the PCB chairman, the source said that they had been closely watching the performances of the Pakistan team and had some reservations over some selections and other issues. Pakistan bounced back in the first match of the five-match One-day international series, winning by five wickets on Saturday. Mani also said that the PCB was paying a lot of attention to the national women’s team and providing more facilities and structure for women’s cricket. He said efforts were being made to encourage more girls to take up the game and also bring in new players into the national side. He also made it clear that national sports federations needed to understand that sports cant be run through just government funding and these federations also needed to get sponsorship from big corporates and banks and build up their resources. Published in Daily Times, January 21st 2019.