Cricket’s controlling body, the ICC (aka “Intentionally Confusing Conference”), continues to baffle the fans with its various (mis)deeds. In order to save their flagship event the ICC World Cup 2015, they made sure that certain leading off spinners like Saeed Ajmal and Mohammad Hafeez of Pakistan, Sunil Narine of the West Indies, Prosper Utseya of Zimbabwe, Kane Williamson of New Zealand and Sachitra Senanayake of Sri Lanka, who would have proved dangerous were banned for a “bent arm” during bowling. Please note that this list does not include any bowler from the so called “Big Three” — India, Australia, England. Makes the mind boggle.

Why take such a step on the eve of cricket’s extravaganza?

It is significant that Ravichandran Ashwin the Indian spinning wizard was not in this “roll of honour”. He was very cleverly withdrawn from bowling in big cricket just before the World Cup and was rushed into the event. Earlier, Ashwin had bowled with a changed action and with his sleeves rolled down to avert being detected for chucking.

The PCB seems unable or unwilling to stand up to international cricket authorities

The ICC also took the confusing step of depriving its president Mustafa Kamal of Bangladesh from presenting the coveted Cup to the winners. Kamal’s guilt was that he demonstrated courage and honesty and criticised the ICC-appointed umpires for giving decisions in favour of India in the quarter-finals against Bangladesh in the World Cup. He said the match was “pre-arranged in favour of India” — how dare he? But in any case this is no way to deal with the head of your setup even if he is a purely ceremonial figurehead. Instead the tainted Chairman of ICC Srinivasan was bestowed the honour.

Although the Indian Supreme Court did not convict Srinivasan of spot fixing, they did not give him a “clean chit” and reiterated that in his case there was a clear conflict of interest. He was removed from the stewardship of the Indian Board — Jagmohan Dalmiya making a comeback. Srinivasan for reasons best known to them was the nominee of the BCCI for chairman of the ICC and had been unanimously elected. This move stunned many cricket followers, officials and administrators. Let me just state that the closing ceremony of the World Cup could have been more gracefully organised and better managed.

The proverbial ink had not even dried on Kamal’s resignation, when the President elect — Pakistan Cricket Board’s Chief of Executive Committee, the charismatic journalist, intellectual and administrator Najam Sethi expressed his willingness and availability to take over in April 2015. Why none of the innumerable knowledgeable professional managers and ex-cricketers flooding the PCB’s offices advised him that Bangladesh was to hold the presidential post till June before Pakistan takes over from July, will always remain a mystery.

It may be recalled that when in 2007 South Africa’s Percy Sonn died, the presidency was taken over by Ray Mali of South Africa and only in 2008 did David Morgan of the England and Wales Cricket Board succeed him. It was probably at the time of the Kamal episode that the ICC got the bright idea that from 2016 the president of the ICC would be an icon of cricket or iconic cricketer (I am not sure what they meant except that to my limited knowledge the interpreted meaning of the two are not the same).

However, it was later that Sethi decided to withdraw (or was he forced to withdraw as such a strong personality would be problematic for the so called “Big Three”) as he wanted to implement the ICC’s “iconic” decision from 2015 a year before the due date. The PCB then nominated a great cricketer of the past, 67-year-old Zaheer Abbas, a most affable and genial person with a towering personality.

Abbas would be welcome to all component boards of the ICC, particularly India as he is very popular there. During major ICC events for some years he has been an automatic choice on some of the leading Indian TV channels. Recently in the World Cup he was seen and heard commenting on some Indian channel (IBN). I caught a fleeting glimpse of him in a rather noisy programme called Taakra, which was a Pakistani channel vs an Indian channel and he was on the Indian side!! Such programmes are so noisy and confusing that I may be quite wrong (if so my profuse apologies).

I was reading somewhere that after being installed in the presidency in Bridgetown, he told Press Trust of India that he may be the ceremonial head, but shall do his best to have a resumption in Indo-Pakistan series (careful Zaheer, you may be ruffling some feathers). Zed is a thorough gentleman, a very knowledgeable cricketer and a most graceful batsman. He is religious, pious and efficient; and above all a good friend. We wish him all the best. Hopefully he will prevail upon the Indian government to allow an Indian team to tour and play in Pakistan (no security problems as we demonstrated during Zimbabwe’s tour of Pakistan recently).

Moreover, I feel that it is now time that the Pakistan government’s NOC should be sought as at the moment we are very upset with the irresponsible and belligerent utterances of the Indian leadership. It should be remembered PCB under the chairmanship of Tauqir Zia took a very strong stand through the ICC about India touring Pakistan, and it was the efforts from 2002 to 2004 that resulted in India at last coming to play in Pakistan in 2005. Why is it that now we plead and almost “beg” for the Indian government’s permission? We should now first have our own government’s blessings.

The PCB must now stop taking the easy and comfortable way out by holding “home” matches in the UAE. This is most convenient for PCB as they have to bear next to no responsibility in connection with security, ticketing, accreditation, logistics and administration. All that some of the senior officials of the board do is go and stay in Dubai for some weeks.

Keeping sports and politics separate is easier said than done

The PCB must now stop taking the easy and comfortable way out by holding “home” matches in the UAE. This is most convenient for PCB as they have to bear next to no responsibility in connection with security, ticketing, accreditation, logistics and administration. All that some of the senior officials of the board do is go and stay in Dubai for some weeks. Outsourcing the entire event is a very expensive method and we talk of shortage of funds. If we can boast of hosting Zimbabwe why not India, Australia and the others? After all, Sri Lanka, England, Zimbabwe and South Africa hosted teams in their troubled times. None of the ICC members of all categories have held their “home” series off shore. It is about time that the patron of the PCB took notice.

However, as Shakespeare put it so aptly: “God Almighty, there is some soul of goodness in things evil. Would men observing distill it out.” This also applies to the ICC. Their recent decision to revamp the rules of ODIs by adjusting field placings in the initial and final overs and doing away with batting power play is praiseworthy as is their reported decision to try and have day and night Test cricket from November this year.

It is not only the ICC which is controlled by the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket “Internationally”), the PCB is heavily dependent on the Indian company Ten Sports for their TV coverage. Shahryar Khan referred to Ten Sports as Dubai-based. With respect I submit that he is mistaken. Ten is an Indian company based in New Okhla Industrial Development Authority (NOIDA) near Delhi and is owned by Essel/Zee Group. PCB also cites BCCI’s troubles with Ten as one of the obstacles in the revival of Indo-Pakistan ties as BCCI have problems with Ten. Zimbabwe, Sri Lanka and West Indies do not seem to have any such difficulties. India will be touring Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. Only if Pakistan Television paid attention to getting their house in order, our national broadcaster will cover at least our international matches. PTV’s engineers, camerapersons,

production teams and technical crew are all top class. All they need to do is invest in some latest equipment rather than squandering their wealth on lavish programmes based on the whims and fancies of a handful of individuals. If only …

Pakistan’s tour of Sri Lanka

continues. Good to see the players enjoying the weather and the entertainment with their families. We are told that one evening when some of the families went for ice cream they travelled in ten trishaws (as auto rickshaws are called there) which can seat up to three adult passengers each. Hope they went to Carnival Ice Cream Parlour on Galle Road — a splendid place which at one time was owned by a Sri Lankan cabinet member Rauf Hakim; perhaps it still is.

By the time this appears in print (hopefully) the third Test in Pallakille (Kandy) will be in progress. It will be a decider as the series stands at 1-1 at the moment. Both teams need to go back to the drawing board. Pakistan will be without their spearhead Wahab Riaz and it seems also Mohammad Hafeez. We may see Shan Masood given a chance (at least he is a left hander — the only one in the entire right-handed squad) and either one of Rahat Ali, Imran Khan or Ehsan Adil. Sri Lanka will not have the services of Kumar Sangakkara (who has announced his retirement but will play his final Test against India in August). His likely replacement will be Kusal Janith Perera while Jehan Mubarak may come in place of Vithanage. At the P. Saravanamuttu (Colombo Oval) Pakistan’s pathetic batting in the first innings basically lost them the match. Yasir Shah has emerged as a tremendous spinner, while the off spinner with a doosra Tharindu Kaushal and fast and furious (ave. 145+ kph speed) Dushamantha Chameera will be forces to reckon with for Sri Lanka.

Once again the “cash-strapped” PCB has announced the Pakistan Super League next year in UAE. Why? If we can have international matches against a full member of the ICC at Lahore why have our domestic league off shore? No satisfactory answer is forthcoming. Easy and comfortable path again. I feel that we have been influenced by the Indian based consultants. Let us not rush into this otherwise we will fall flat on our face. PSL should be held in Pakistan after very careful and thorough preparations. Otherwise it will meet the same fate as similar leagues in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, July 5th, 2015

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