Changes galore at the PCB – Ringside view
After Sunday afternoon’s marathon meeting at the PCB’s headquarters, there were changes galore in the set-up. Ostensibly, for this is the official line, these changes have been rung to bring the organisation in line with the working of the ICC. In effect it is a tacit admission that all was far from well in the PCB at various administrative levels. And also, that the entire system needed an overhaul as radical as this one was, to kick the indolence and inefficiency out.So the ‘five wise men’ – yes, there were as many till as recently as last April – advising the Chairman, have now been replaced with five committees!One can only hope, that belated as it is, this attempt at some dispassionate soul-searching and stocktaking augurs well for the game in Pakistan.The good thing about the changes is that every committee has a well-defined job assignment, instead of the vagueness that was prevalent in the times of the now-defunct, Advisory Council. So, for instance, now we would know if there is something wrong with the functioning of academies, or there is a marketing problem, and so on, everybody including the media would know who is to blame instantly.This may have some effect on diligence levels, for, to some extent, it introduces real-time, public accountability.So massive is the scale of changes – "a major restructuring of the PCB to streamline the working of the Board", said the official press release – that only two members of the dissolved Advisory Council have been retained, in Rameez Raja and Javed Miandad, the former for practical and the latter, perhaps for sentimental reasons. The selection committee – the replacements yet to be named, perhaps because one of the prime candidates is abroad these days – too has been given the much-deserved sack, and too late in the day.Though this reorganisation was known, one has learnt, to the Chairman’s confidants for some time, the all-powerful Advisory Council had little or no clue. The result was that two of its members, former cricketer Waqar Hasan and Wasim Azhar, have been sent packing while the fifth member in Yawar Saeed had already been eased out, to do duty as the national team’s manager about three months ago.The question is whether this is a harbinger of more changes? As a logical corollary they should be forthcoming too, and soon. For howsoever good the newly-formed committees might be, if the administrative support staff – which the Chairman says were not put in by him but by his predecessors, the inference being that he is either unable or unwilling to defend their performance any longer – are not overhauled as well.Now a look at the Committees, in terms of responsibilities and scope, as head of Development Committee, Raja still ends up with the largest share of the pie. His domain remains extensive, covering infrastructure development, academies, nurseries, coaching centres, grassroots cricket and also the National Coaching Council. Considering that most of these programmes are in their embryonic stage and even a bit of cavalier handling could do serious damage to the very concepts, whether he can find time to deal effectively with all this while committing himself extensively with his commentary assignments and his job in a bank, is a point of conjecture.In this context, he would have to delegate, and heavily so and who would be assisting him where, would assume greater importance. The committee has yet to be named, which means Raja is still looking for right options. Though one of his former mentors, none other than the redoubtable Majid Khan, is anything but satisfied with his work so far, but one would like to hold judgement on this for the moment.Miandad is the chairman, with Iqbal Qasim to serve as his deputy, in the management committee. This committee would deal with domestic cricket, national umpiring council, rules and discipline. Well, one has been a great admirer of Miandad, and it is a great travesty that for various reasons in his last six years, between 1990 and 1996, he could only take part in 22 Tests.That said his very name does not really go down well with the concept of management. So, apparently, the PCB Chairman didn’t have the heart to tell him to pack off. Or maybe, it is deemed, as one member of the now dissolved Advisory Council had confided in this writer not long ago, it is more prudent to have Miandad on board than put up with the vitriol he is capable of sending the PCB’s way from time to time.Appointment of a treasurer is a mundane affair and Finance and Marketing Committee too doesn’t have any new faces. But the Review Committee is important in the context that PCB still faces quite a bit of pressure from the ICC on the match-fixing issue. Also the likelihood of some of the players continuing to be involved, as has been alleged off and on in recent times, is something that needs constant probe and vigilance. The retired High Court judge to head the committee has still to be appointed. It would be in the fitness of things, if Justice Qayyum, whose landmark judgement on match-fixing had won universal acclaim, and who would be available after his resignation is accepted, is offered the job. At least for the short term, for he is familiar with the lay of the land like no one else.The last paragraph of the press release was most significant in its import, for it promises the appointment of a legal advisor to review the PCB’s constitution, followed by elections of the associations "to keep them in line with the new national administrative structure".This is a great development indeed, provided it comes through, for it pledges return to democratic order – in as far as it could be in an organisation where the government of the day can appoint the top man. And also from the point of view, that the actions of Chairman and the five committees, would be accountable to the Council. That too, if hoping that the previous constitution does not see a change in this regard.But one problem here is that there aren’t many credible elected or electable faces around. They weren’t there even when the so-called PCB Council was ruling the roost, taking turns on foreign trips and bleeding whatever little resources were generated in those pre-satellite television times, when the revenues were precious little to go by. Since then, that is from the early to mid ’90s onwards, they have been mostly irrelevant, dependent on the crumbs that were thrown their way.So the problem is not merely the absence of democratic order. To quote Majid Khan on the issue again, "the country’s educated elite have washed their hands off Pakistan’s sports". Cricket is no exception to this rather sweeping statement, which unfortunately is true. That is one reason why quality leadership – such as like Jagmohan Dalmiya, Madhavrao Scindia, Raj Singh Dungarpur, and I.S. Bindra across the border – is not being thrown up to manage the affairs of the game in this country. And till such time, it doesn’t happen; we would remain dependent on the good or bad decisions of a very limited coterie.Sad as it may sound, but a fact.