LAHORE: A delegation comprising heads of various cricketing regions of the country, which met prime minister-in-waiting Imran Khan last week failed to impress him with their knowledge of the sport and the ideas on how to deal with the game-related problems, well-informed sources have told Dawn.

The delegation which included Chaudhry Anwer (Faisalabad region), Salman Talpur (Hyderabad), Zafarullah (Dera Murad Jamali), Mir Usman (AJK) and Amir Nawab (former head of Abbottabad region) met Imran at his Bani Gala residence last week to apprise him of domestic cricket affairs.

As the delegation mainly comprised the heads of relatively smaller regions - except for Faisalabad region - whose teams are still playing Grade-II cricket on domestic circuit, cricketing circles have expressed their surprise as to how they managed to arrange a meeting with Imran, particularly when no significant name from the cricket fraternity was part of the said delegation.

According to sources, Imran, who has always backed promoting cricket at regional level instead of departmental, was not impressed with the cricketing knowledge of the delegation members on how to bring improvement in Pakistan cricket.

Some sources, however, disclosed that a few close friends of Imran, who are keen to see a swift change at the helm of the Pakistan Cricket Board, helped arranged the meeting of the delegates. They further said that Imran is likely to announce a clear policy about the fate of PCB chairman very soon.

Meanwhile, incumbent PCB chairman Najam Sethi, has reportedly put the ball in Imran’s court and wants him to take a decision about replacing him or letting him continue. Sources said Sethi is waiting for a clear signal from Imran which is expected to come once he takes the oath as prime minister later this week.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018