An eminent cricket institution of Lahore -- the Panthers and Tigers (P&T) Gymkhana -- in its 54-year history has not only been producing Test cricketers, but has the honour of introducing four international umpires as well, including the celebrated Aleem Dar. Aleem has twice won the ICC award for best umpire of the world.

In a chat with Dawn, famous cricket organiser Azhar Zaidi, president of the P&T Gymkhana, says it had been established way back in 1957 entitled Post and Telegraph. Later its name was changed to Panthers and Tigers Gymkhana in 1964. Various well-known people like K.H Khursheed, former president of Azad Kashmir, Khalid Mahmood, former chairman Pakistan Cricket Board had been attached with the Gymkhana as patron-in-chief, he says. Khalid is still the patron of the gymkhana.

Aashiq Husain Qureshi, another cricketing organiser, is also attached with it. The Young P&T Gymkhana and Junior P&T Gymkhana are also part of it. In all, 60 to 70 cricketers are currently attending the net at the Lahore City Cricket Association ground, Zaidi says.

He says Asad Rauf, Ahsan Raza, who are also on the panel of the ICC umpires and in the past his brother Athar Zaidi was on the panel as well, all belong to the Gymkhana.

Zaidi says to recognise the services of Aleem Dar, the P&T Gymkhana invited great cricket captain Imran Khan to decorate him with a golden crown in a special function, which was also attended by PCB chairman Ijaz Butt.

“It was my desire that Aleem should only be crowned by such a great personality, who also enjoys same respect in the world of cricket and thus only Imran Khan deserves this.”

Zaidi says the best moment of his life was when Imran Khan recognised him as one of the best organisers of the game in the country in his speech during that function.

The Gymkhana has produced Test cricketers like Abdul Razzaq, Imran Nazir, Shahid Saeed, Aamir Nazir and many others.

Besides it, the P&T Gymkhana has the honour that great Test cricketers like Javed Miandad, Abdul Qadir, Waqar Younus, Mushtaq Ahmad, Tasleem Arif have also played for it as guest players. He says some good cricketers are also in the pipeline.

According to Zaidi, the PCB should promote club cricket instead of academy as is the saying `as you sow, so shall you reap.’ Zaidi claims it is the only club of Pakistan, which has toured England five times, besides going to Zimbabwe, Kenya and the UAE.

“We have also played against famous English county Essex and out of the country we played 100 matches with the break-up of 99 wins and only one loss,” Zaidi says.

He says his Gymkhana is a club and not an academy. He believes only club cricket can produce best talented cricketers. “It is my humble suggestion for the PCB to promote club cricket as its academy system can’t polish the players at this level.”

Zaidi says those people, who are working on honorary basis to promote cricket should be respected. Mian Mohammad Aslam, Aslam Taya, Arshad Khan and some others are die-hard workers of the club cricket and they all should be given respect to promote others too. Zaidi says the PCB has been picking up youngsters directly, bypassing their parent clubs and that will serve nothing but only lessen the role of the clubs’ organisers. He says all 11 cricket region of the country should be in the governing board of the PCB instead of only four at one time.

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The Hot Weather Chief Minister Punjab Cricket League, started by the LCCA last month with an estimated budget of Rs3 million has been stopped after a couple of matches.

President LCCA Khwaja Nadeem says the league will be resumed soon as some problems related to funds have created hurdles.

Khwaja Nadeem says some good business houses are coming forward to sponsor different teams of the league. He says the second reason to stop the league is that the PCB has started the Senior Cricket tournament at district level.

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Strangely, the Punjab Sports, which had purchased a van to transport the players during their competitions some three years back could not get it registered with the excise department. The vehicle is parked at the National Stadium. The van is not serving the purpose, for which it was purchased.