Daily Times

Sir: There is no shame in losing a sports event, while going down fighting. However, abject surrender, without putting up a fight, is an unpardonable crime. Also, you being a cricketer yourself, know more than anyone else that Pakistanis are a nation of cricket lovers, who cannot tolerate losses of our team in a shameful manner; which resultantly also creates negative vibes, about the government of the day.

On January 22, 2016, our cricket team lost in most humiliating manner, the 3rd T20 match against the New Zealand’s team, by a record 95 runs huge margin. Also on January 17, 2016 our team lost the 2nd T20 match in a most shameful manner, by record 10 wickets and in the process New Zealand (NZ) team created a world record 1st wicket partnership of 171 runs. In fact, their fielding and over all clinical and ruthless performance just flattened our team in the series, which we lost by 1-2 score.

In any sphere of life, success comes only with the selection of right person for the right job. In cricket, it is a cardinal rule, to select horses for courses. Messrs Shahid Afridi, Muhammad Hafeez, Ahmad Shahzad, Sohaib Maqsood and Shoaib Malik were never technically fit and suitable to be considered for the Pakistan’s T20 team. May be, some of them can be selected for the other formats of the game.

Yet, the PCB is such a meek, visionless, gutless and timid organisation that it has made itself hostage to the players power mafia, who virtually dictate their decisions on the selection of players, as per their own likes and dislikes; and also violate the conditions of their contract with impunity, without any accountability.

As such, the PCB should be directed to swiftly act and sack captain Shahid Afridi, along with the entire coaching staff, all members and chairman of the very docile selection committee, to have any chance in the World Cup, which seems to be already indignantly lost, in advance.

It is almost two years that PCB top notches have not only utterly failed in their discharge of duties, but are fully and solely responsible for making PCB a rudderless ship, which is not sinking, but has already sunk. And now, it will be a sheer waste of time to expect a dead horse to win any race for us in future.

PCB has miserably disappointed the nation during the last year’s ODI World Cup played in Australia, by not taking any corrective action after the World Cup failure or held not a single person accountable, after the debacle of worst ever series results, during the Bangladesh tour.

As such, if the PCB management was capable of doing any good, by now, the results would have been forthcoming; instead of the performance of our cricket team, going from bad to worse, in every new competition.

Sir, the entire PCB management has proved with the debacles after debacles that it possesses neither the knowledge about the modern demands of the cricket, nor the ability and capacity of required, highly professional management skills.

Hence, to allow this PCB structure to continue till the next World Cup, or for that matter, even for a single day, will be ignoring the writing on the wall; and further rewarding docile people, for their incompetency and failures.

Mr Prime Minister, considering that very short time is left for the start of the T20 World Cup in March 2016 to be played in India, all the necessary changes in the PCB must be ordered to be implemented, with a lighting speed. Finally, the new PCB team must be told to run this organisation purely on merit, like a first class world level corporate entity, in a most efficient and transparent manner, with its motto as “Merit and transparency.”

SYED NAYYAR UDDIN AHMAD

Lahore