LAHORE: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) were quick to accept the resignation of Chairman National Cricket Committee (NCC) Iqbal Qasim on Friday after he requested the chairman PCB to relieve him from the duties in a letter written on Thursday (Sept 3).

Conveying his discontent regarding PCB not giving due importance to his recommendations, Iqbal Qasim, a former Test left-arm spinner and ex-chief selector, wrote the letter to the PCB chairman on Thursday which said: “Since assuming the charge in February (after being appointed on Jan 31, 2020) I have been a vocal supporter for the resumption of the departmental cricket. However, all my recommendations in this regard could not bear fruit and when I showed reservations over the procedure of appointing new umpires and referees in the new panel (for the domestic season 2020-21) these were also turned down. So I feel there is no need to continue working if I have no power and have requested the PCB chairman to relieve me from the post,” Iqbal told Dawn on Friday.

“Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has accepted Iqbal Qasim’s resignation as Chairman of the PCB Cricket Committee and will now announce his replacement in due course,” the PCB said while responding to the news aired by some private TV channels regarding Iqbal’s resignation.

“In his resignation on Thursday, Sept 3, Mr Iqbal Qasim wrote: “(He was a) dummy chairman who cannot recommend a deserving match referee. It is painful to see injustice (being) done to cricketers who have played cricket, fulfill all criteria but are suffering,” the PCB said.

“It is indeed sad that a cricketer of the calibre, repute and experience of Iqbal Qasim has voluntarily decided to step down. His services to cricket, both as a player and as an administrator, are outstanding. The PCB respects his decision and wishes him well for the future.

Former Test spinner quits post; PCB accepts resignation

“The PCB is also at pains to explain that when Iqbal Qasim accepted the offer to head its cricket committee on January 31 2020, the role of the department sides had already been eliminated under the new PCB Constitution 2019, which came into effect on 19 August 2019. He (Iqbal) had walked into the role knowing the framework and regulations under which the current PCB management was operating that had no space for the PCB-organised department cricket. Having worked in a corporate organisation, the PCB had hoped Iqbal Qasim would understand, abide and value the constitution,” the PCB stated. “Iqbal Qasim has remained a loyal servant to Pakistan cricket and we hope he will continue to offer his services in future, nevertheless.”

When contacted by Dawn, Iqbal said that he had serious objection over the procedure of appointing the umpires and referees as the main priority to judge their abilities as opposed to their past performances which show their competence and experience. “But my recommendations carried no weight and that compelled me to quit the post as it was a waste of time,” he lamented..

Asked to comment on PCB’s stance that departmental cricket had already been abolished through new constitution at the time of his joining, so why did he agree to take up the post, Iqbal said: “A newly-appointed Director on behalf of the PCB was in negotiation with me and he convinced me to join the post by saying that “we will work together and we can resume the departmental cricket, too.”

“And when in the first meeting of the cricket committee it was recommended to then Director Domestic Haroon-ur-Rasheed to find out a window for departmental cricket, the PCB also issued a press release on the subject and did not show any reservations about the recommendations conveyed to Haroon,” he recalled.

Interestingly, the uncanny similarity of incidents can be noticed in the resignation of first chairman of cricket committee Mohsin Khan and now Iqbal Qasim. The Mohsin-led committee existed for nine months while Iqbal’s one also ran for almost the same number of months. When Mohsin resigned, the cricket committee had the task to review the last three years performance of the national team, including the World Cup-2019. And now the cricket committee has the task ahead to review the performance of the national team in th last one year which ended with the recent tour of England.

Pakistan lost the Test series in England 1-0 and drew 1-1 in three T20 matches series. But now after Iqbal’s resignation, the performance of the team may never get to be discussed by the new chairman as it happened after the World Cup-2019.

After Mohsin’s resignation, the PCB made CEO Wasim Khan as the head of the cricket committee before appointing Iqbal on Jan 31, 2020.

It may be mentioned here that according to the initial plan of the PCB, it wants to change the role of departments in cricket by asking them to just sponsor a provincial team instead of fielding their own teams. But the departments did not give a positive response to this offer on the pretext that as a huge budget of around Rs 200 to 250 million is required for the sponsorship so it is not in their interest to sponsor a provincial team.

Thousands of cricketers have become jobless as most of the departments have closed down their cricket teams in the last one and a half year. The PCB could not even form six elected cricket associations, for whom the departments were being asked to sponsor as the work is going at snail pace.

It may also be mentioned that former opener Mudassar Nazar had also decided not to continue with the PCB as Director National Cricket Academy (NCA) after the end of his tenure on May 31, 2020. He also had serious issues with the incumbent set-up which has now replaced him with Nadeem Khan as Director National High Performance Centre.

Published in Dawn, September 5th, 2020