PCB’s long-awaited Pindi Clubs’ scrutiny shortly

ISLAMABAD: The long-awaited scrutiny process of Rawalpindi cricket clubs finally gets a green signal as all affiliated and registered clubs have been asked to collect forms from Pindi Cricket Stadium.

The decision of scrutiny was taken following recent Islamabad High Court (IHC) decision that allowed Rawalpindi district to go ahead with the planned scrutiny and election process in the city.

One of the most active cities of yester years had gone through political and legal battles rather than cricket activities in recent years. There has been absolutely no club cricket activity for the last five to six years resulting in continuous falling standard.

Gone are the days when Rawalpindi used to dominate the domestic scene with some exiting performance from ever emerging talent. Despite having the best talent, Rawalpindi Region has struggled to put up a decent show in all the ages competition including limited overs, T20 and Quaid-i-Azam Trophy matches.

There has been absolutely no or rotten criteria to select players. Since no club cricket has been organised in recent past, it is hard to determine as which talent has the required match temperament for big occasion.

The recent ruling by the court at least gives a ray of hope that cricket would be back to normal in a city that has produced the likes of Maqsood Ahmad (merry Max), Nazir Junior, Javed Akhtar, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Waseem, Mohammad Akram, Nadeem Abbasi and of course Azhar Mahmood, Irfan Bhatti amd many others in the past in the past. Former Pakisrtan skipper Majid Khan had also captained Rawalpindi team besides Javed Burki.

The city now struggles to bring the best talent to the fore in absence of no regular club cricket. The process of scrutiny was started in 2012 when legal battle put a halt on all the activities and things started taking shape on ad hoc decisions.

“Only registered clubs can apply for scrutiny. These clubs have been asked to collect information data form from the Rawalpindi District Cricket office any time now. The last date of submission of these forms is January 30 after which the scrutiny process would start,” a Rawalpindi cricket official when contacted said.

It is not yet clear whether the initiated scrutiny would be an end to legal battle or just a beginning of yet another tussle among different factions trying to wrest cricketing powers in the city.