Shaharyar concedes India won’t play Pakistan

KARACHI: Skeptics were raising questions from the very start but Pakistan’s cricket chiefs kept making promises. For weeks Shaharyar Khan and other top officials expressed confidence that they will make it happen – the long-awaited ‘home’ series against old rivals India later this year.
More than anything else, Shaharyar and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) needed such a series to provide a boost to PCB’s dwindling back accounts.
But the series seems like a far cry as the Indians have given clear indications that they are unlikely to fulfill the commitment that they made with the PCB.
Now, suddenly Shaharyar has lost optimism and the ex-diplomat is now talking about Pakistan cricket “surviving” without playing cricket with India.
There is still this wishful thinking that the Indian cricket board (BCCI) might adhere to the MOU between the boards but the PCB chairman knows that it remains quite unlikely.
“Given the present circumstance, the chances of a Pakistan-India series look bleak and we have to live with the fact that India are not going to play us,” Shaharyar told Cricinfo in an interview on Friday.
“At the same time the BCCI hasn’t formally refused us, but we can’t wait long amid this uncertainty and have got to have an alternative plan. We will wait for another couple of months before forcing our plan B.
“I hope the climate will improve but at the moment it’s more a political tension … the relationship between the countries is complex but cricket shouldn’t be suffering, it is after all something that can be a tool to lower the tension.”
Shaharyar has been talking about PCB’s plan B but if there is any such thing then he has been hiding it well.
Bilateral ties between Pakistan and India were snapped after the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008 until a limited-overs series was played in 2012-13, though India and Pakistan have faced each other in international tournaments. India’s refusal to play Pakistan in recent years has cost the PCB over $80 million in terms of broadcasting and other commercial deals.
“We understand the BCCI is financially very sound and we are the ones who have suffered a lot in all this,” Shaharyar said. “It’s not that we can’t survive without playing them. We are surviving, and can survive, but our position is that the game shouldn’t be mixed up with the politics. So we are trying to get the series revived based on the MOU they have signed with us. They have to honour it and if they don’t it’s their responsibility.”
Many suspect that with the influential Najam Sethi sitting in the board as the chairman of the PCB executive committee, Shaharyar is little more that a figurehead. There are also fears with its two power centres, the Board is facing problems in many issues.
But Shaharyar attempted to play down the issue.
“There is no division in the board,” he said, when asked about Sethi’s role in the PCB. “He is the nominee of the Patron of the Board and heads the executive committee. I am the chairman and all the decision are taken by me and it’s my discretion to approve or not to approve. There is no interference politically and I don’t think that the Prime Minister or any other minister is trying to dictate to the Board. We are working independently.
“He [Najam] has his own views and I respect them but we are all on the same line. I am an elected chairman and that is one important thing. If I am elected, naturally the weight of my position is much higher than being a nominee.”
Pakistan’s domestic cricket structure has been a major talking point because of its inconsistent format over the years. The change this year is the third in the last four years, but according to Shaharyar the latest change is best for the long term.
“Basically the idea is to reduce the number of teams … you got to understand that 24 teams in domestic cricket is too many,” he said. “The number is higher than in other cricketing playing countries. So there was a strong feeling that this pattern was lowering the standard in domestic cricket with teams not being able to be a proper feeder to the national team.”
Though Shaharyar was optimistic about the latest format he feared the board may alter it in the future. “We have discussed with every stakeholder of the game and almost every one decided in favour of 16-team format. This format is locked down for next three years until this present governing board is in house. I don’t know what is going to be done after me but I can assure that we have finally found a format, which I think is the right formula.”