Cricket   The News,Wednesday, April 09, 2014 From Print Edition

Pakistan’s T20 performance has rightly come in for flak. Apart from the usual litany of dubious decisions by the captain and errant batting and bowling by some key players, the inclusion of at least three players in the squad was rightly questioned from the start. It now transpires that Captain Mohammad Hafeez browbeat the selectors to have his way, despite PCB Chairman Najam Sethi’s objections. The chairman did not impose his views and this is the way it should be. Similarly, having taken responsibility for the selection, and failed to justify it, the captain and selectors have been nudged to step aside. Shahid Afridi has offered himself as the next captain but the chairman has rapped him on the knuckles for an unauthorised self-serving media talk.

Losing should be a reflective and sobering experience rather than a demoralising one. As Wasim Akram has pointed out, the media too must imbibe this advice. Undue criticism for the sake of ratings exacts a heavy toll on the morale and motivation. PCB Chairman Najam Sethi, in particular, has come in for some unjust criticism. Under his stewardship, Pakistan has lost only one ODI series out of five. In the Asia Cup Pakistan made it to the finals. And in the T20 WC Pakistan still ended up ranking above Australia, England and New Zealand. Things may be looking up with the chairman’s appointment of Rashid Latif as chief selector. Sethi has also announced a revamp of domestic cricket and a more democratic constitution. His intentions seem in the right direction. He is appointing retired cricketers of stature to key posts and setting up training camps and talent hunts. And he is advertising for specialist foreign coaches as well. This is as it should be in view of their critical role in the shaping of raw cricketers for international contests.

The challenge ahead is how to reinstate Pakistan in the folds of the revamped ICC. The previous PCB management miscalculated and ended up isolating Pakistan after being ditched first by Bangladesh and then by South Africa. Now Sri Lanka has joined the bandwagon of the Big Three. Sethi must follow the same route and extract whatever is maximally possible even at this late stage instead of holding out in abstention. The PCB needs lots of money to revamp domestic cricket. That money can only come from cooperating with the nine ICC members who have signed the revised covenant. Even under trying circumstances the PCB has stitched up financially favourable bilateral tours with eight ICC members for 2014-20. All that remains is to convince India to play Pakistan on fair terms. If that is the value for signing on the dotted line along with the other ICC members next June, so be it. The ICC meetings in Dubai on April 9 are crucial. Sethi is advised to negotiate with the Big Three and return to Pakistan with Indian tours in the bag.