Pakistan Cricket Board is going through a process of Operation Clean Up. Wasim Khan, the energetic CEO of the Board, is taking daring decisions to get rid of incompetent and safarshi members of PCB Mafia XI, ruling the Board since infinity.
After parasites like Subhan Ahmad and Ali Zia, clean bowled leaving the incoming balls, two beautiful out-swingers have shattered stumps of Haroon Rasheed and Agha Zahid as well.
Nobody noticed or shocked at the falling wickets of Subhan and Zia. We didn’t observe any sympathy for them in media and cricket fraternity.
Similarly, we didn’t find any sympathy for Haroon and Agha. Why? Because even the hardest critics of PCB are convinced that they were liability for the Board because of their sheer incompetence and shameful clinging to jobs fully knowing that they lacked capacity to contribute for the promotion of cricket.
We now expect that after shattering the stumps of the opening batsmen of the Mafia, getting wickets of some other important batsmen, Wasim Khan would be now concentrating on the middle order before knocking down the tail.
However, you can’t afford loose balls in the proceedings of the ongoing match which can be detrimental for PCB. The middle order and the tail must be sent to the dressing room immediately. Don’t wait for their contracts to complete. I remember that during 2008-2009 Ijaz Butt continued with a CFO employed by the previous regime.
Salim Altaf and I would urge upon Butt to replace him but every time he will respond: “I shall screw him hard that he would leave himself”. We would argue that his presence in the Board and liberty to access to official documents could be damaging for the Board. And that’s what exactly happened. During a meeting of Senate Standing Committee in Islamabad Ijaz Butt was mercilessly grilled by Anwar Baig for furnishing wrong figures regarding the construction of ill-designed Far End Pavilion at the Gaddafi Stadium. Baig was confident that he possessed the correct figures provided by the CFO and he was harsh on Butt who looked visibly disturbed and embarrassed. I distinctly remember one participant of the meeting telling me: “It was a bad day for PCB”.
The CFO himself quit the same evening but the damage had been done. Wasim Khan must take lesson from this factual information. After Subhan Ahmad the remaining members of PCB Mafia have reassembled under a Czar, very close the Patron-in-Chief. He has recently managed extension in the contract for a member of the Mafia.
We believe that by now Waseem have full knowledge of the remaining members of the Mafia and we need not to poke our nose to identify them. He must not wait to complete their contracts.
The pitch is conducive at the moment which can change its behavior amid fast changing political atmosphere in the country. The cherry in his hands still has shine on one side and rough on the other, ideal for reverse swing. You need five more wickets. End Mafia’s innings forthwith!