WHILE the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) decision to retain Pakistan as hosts for the rescheduled Champions Trophy next year has given the country some respite, several other challenges are still staring Pakistan cricket in the face.

The latest jolt, of course, is the West Indies Cricket Board’s refusal to play a Test rubber in Abu Dhabi which, in effect, has put paid to any hopes of Pakistan finally playing a Test match in 2008.

A few developments in the national cricket set-up since the arrival of Ijaz Butt at the helm heralds the start of yet another era following the retirement of Dr Nasim Ashraf.

On one side, if former skipper Intikhab Alam replaced Geoff Lawson as the national coach, Shafqat Naghmi, the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Chief Operating Officer, was sacked. Earlier, chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed had stepped down citing intrusion into his official domain, team selection.

The operational showing of the cricket board has been under the spotlight in the last few years, with loads of criticism coming from almost every quarter.

Bulk of this condemnation is, indeed, justified. Rhetoric, hasty decisions and events sans logic have seen Pakistan cricket plunging to its lowest ebb in recent years, successive debacles in the last two World Cups being ample proof of that. Consequently, the game and tens of millions of ardent fans here have been the biggest sufferers.

Friction within the team members, doping sagas, fitness problems, poor selection of players, captaincy wrangles, the recent ICL snag and below-par on-field performances have dented the pride of Pakistan cricket in a seemingly irreparable manner. To say that the security issue has only augmented the mess will be an understatement.

And though it is still early days for the newly installed PCB administration, the signs are not very encouraging.

Itching for resumption of international cricket activity at home, the game’s enthusiasts in Pakistan were left bewildered when Ijaz, soon after assuming charge as chairman, candidly expressed willingness to play Pakistan’s home games on neutral venues. Avoiding any remark on this contentious subject would have been the better option for the new PCB chief, keeping in mind that Pakistan will be among the 2011 World Cup hosts.

On the ground, convincing world’s top teams to visit Pakistan amid growing security concerns will perhaps be Ijaz’s toughest challenge.

But while coach Lawson’s sacking might have been an easy decision for Ijaz at this stage, given the string of dismal shows by Shoaib Malik’s brigade since falling short of the inaugural Twenty20 World Championship title last year, one does feel that the swift manner in which the former Aussie paceman was removed raises quite a few issues.

Could Lawson, the third foreign coach of Pakistan national team since South Africa’s Richard Pybus and the late British coach Bob Woolmer, be held solely responsible for the team’s decline since his appointment in July 2007?

Former captains Imran Khan and Javed Miandad clearly stated afterwards that making the coach a scapegoat for the team’s poor show was ridiculous because the players were to equally blame for the frequent failures.

With the abrupt sacking of Lawson, one wonders what sort of message has the PCB sent to other candidates for the post, particularly the local aspirants, on the sort of treatment they could expect in case of failure.

If Lawson did not have the magic wand, does Intikhab Alam have one to put things right? If Pakistan lose the forthcoming home series against India, will Intikhab be shown the door in the same manner as Lawson was?

Waqar Younis’ astonishing removal as bowling coach, just before the 2007 World Cup, is still fresh in the minds of cricket fans.

When Intikhab, who faces a huge and complex task of reviving the team fortunes, was enquired about his top priorities as coach, the former Test skipper’s precise response was: “Discipline and image building (of the team). There will be no compromise on that.”

The question that arises here is, will Intikhab be granted enough authority to tackle the complicated on and off-the-field scenarios created by head-strong superstars of Pakistan cricket? In fact, a knowledgeable person may also ask: what prevented the PCB during the last 15 years to approach Intikhab for the coaching job since he was pretty much associated with Pakistan cricket during the period?

Also, PCB’s apparent helplessness over Chief Selector Salahuddin Ahmed’s bewildering resignation is bound to raise eyebrows. While the PCB has often blown its own trumpet on allowing the selection committee complete independence and authority in choosing players, Sallu’s outburst and subsequent resignation over the row involving sudden induction of little-known Shoaib Khan in place of a highly deserving Saeed Ajmal for the Toronto quadrangular Twenty20 belies the whole claim.

The investigation announced into the saga by the PCB chief seems to have been put on the backburner and once again, a lot of ambiguity is there about who the real culprit was.

The need of the hour is to minutely specify the selectors’ authority and that of the captain in a home series which is a vital issue and demands a swift, clear-cut stance from the board authorities.

Like practices in the previous PCB set-ups, one could also see selective hiring and firing of the employees by the new chairman. Only heavens knows the rationale behind this. The criteria of dismissing those personnel who have been doing their jobs within their respective parameters is truly puzzling and of prime concern. One wishes that the tradition of indiscriminate dismissals with the arrival of a new establishment must stop, once and for all.

The issue of team leadership has been one of the thorniest for years and Shoaib Malik is now definitely walking a tight rope after repeated failures.

With the tough India series just round the corner, the PCB is in a dilemma, rather between the devil and the deep blue sea on this front. While a change in the captaincy appears imperative, it might just prove Pakistan’s undoing against the archrivals at this crucial stage.

Another huge issue which needs to be tackled head on by the new PCB set-up remains the discipline, or the lack of it, in the team. How the Ijaz Butt-led officials manage some ugly episodes such as Mohammad Asif’s doping case, bad boy Shoaib Akhtar’s ban/fine saga as well as Mohammad Yousuf’s ICL row remains to be seen.

Besides these, improving the domestic cricket structure and solving issues concerning players’ livelihood also needs to be addressed on war-footing by the board authorities. Without satisfying the concerns of players — who are obviously the chief stakeholders in the business — an establishment cannot develop a strong base for the game.

As Publilius Syrus once said: “From the errors of others, a wise man corrects his own.”