The Managing Director (MD) of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Wasim Khan has issued a stern warning to the board officials while talking about the future of Pakistan Cricket, in an interview on local channel PTV sports.
The MD stated that Pakistan lacked a decisive plan in the past which is being currently rectified. He said there would be no room for officials in the board who did not want to embark on this journey.
“One thing we haven't had in a very long time at the PCB is a five year direction. I've set us a very ambitious task for us as a cricket board and that is to make us one of the most successful and credible cricket boards in the world,” said Wasim. “If people don’t want to come on this journey then they are in the wrong place. Taking those grey areas away is really important.”
Wasim also revealed his frustrations against the media and people, whom he claimed focused on the ‘wrong’ things.
“The biggest frustration for me since I have arrived has been the fact that people don’t want to focus on what you are trying to do. People want to look and focus on other things. People want to talk about salary, they want to talk about that apparently I have been given a big house; you know all the wrong things. It’s that sort of thing that frustrates you,” he said. “We want to move Pakistan cricket forward. We have so much potential but we have to move the mind-set. Media has a big role to play. I am not saying that in the past things have been rosy in the PCB they haven’t been.”
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The 48-year-old unveiled a new format for the selection committee which would comprise of six provincial head coaches, who would report directly to the chief selector. However these coaches would report on opposing players rather than their own players.
“The chief selector uses those six head coaches as his eyes and ears. So you don’t have a formal selection committee. What happens is that these coaches will write a report on each other’s players. So they don’t write about their own players, so there is no pressure coming from above,” he said. “There are different models you can do. Let’s do things differently. Let’s think outside the box.”
The MD also announced a renewal of the domestic calendar that could potentially cater to international demands.
“Your schedule of first class cricket has to support international cricket. We need guys going into test matches having played a decent amount of red ball cricket. We need them going into T20 international cricket having played T20s. So the selectors are selecting from a format,” he said. “There is a narrative for everything we are going to do going forward.”
Khan unveiled the rebranding of the National Cricket Academy (NCA) as the High Performance Centre (HPC). This rebranding would include the addition of psychologists and nutritionists to meet the international demands of athletes.
"The NCA will be re-branded as a High Performance Centre. Nutritionists will be brought in to ensure players eat food that athletes should be having, rather than biryani and daal chaawal," he said.
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The MD made it clear that domestic cricket will be given importance in the future. He revealed that many players asked to stay in England but were strictly told to come back and participate in domestic cricket.
“Some of the players playing in England asked us if they can stay there, we told them no. They have to play first-class cricket in the new system in September to be available for selection," he concluded.