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That’s Not Cricket!

The Pakistan Cricket Board has failed dismally in promoting the game of cricket and has become another bureaucratic institution.

By Taha Kehar | April 2021

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The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is in the grip of an image crisis that has assailed its credibility as a sports-governing body. Skeptics have been quick to demonise the Board over its inability to revive the glory of the proverbial gentleman’s game. A few analysts have gone to exaggerated extremes to prove their point. Many of them have even viewed the PCB as a microcosm of Pakistan’s bureaucratic political culture where nepotism remains the order of the day.

Faced with mounting criticism over its policy initiatives, the PCB needs to recalibrate its vision and strategic goals in order to facilitate the resurgence of cricket in Pakistan.

As a sports-governing entity, the PCB not only manages the matches and tours of the national cricket team, but also takes disciplinary action against players who have breached the accepted code of conduct. In addition, the Board is expected to represent the national teams that participate in international cricket tournaments. As a consequence, the PCB has an important mandate to fulfil on both a national and global scale to ensure that Pakistan’s cricket team acts within professional and ethical parameters.

At this stage, the PCB has received considerable flak for its ostensibly weak leadership. The Board’s detractors have argued that successive managements have merely sought to preserve their own jobs and have failed to take concrete steps to alter the direction of cricket in Pakistan. The PCB selection committee has been accused of succumbing to unwarranted pressure from seasoned players and elbowing away new talent. While the committee has incorporated younger players into the team, many of these players still remain largely underutilized on the pitch. A trenchant blog post published in the Express Tribune states that the brief stints of Mohammad Rizwan, Awais Zia, Haris Sohail, Hammad Azam and Shakeel Ansar reveal how ‘young blood’ has been restrained from exhibiting its cricketing prowess.


Mired in controversies over its complacency, the PCB needs to develop a more cohesive approach towards finding new players who have exceptional talent. Cricket in Pakistan needs to be rescued from its endless spiral of mediocrity. The sports-governing body can achieve this by establishing cricket academies across the country to scout for fresh blood rather than resorting to its oft-repeated refrain about the dearth of talent in Pakistan.

shoaib akhtarThe Board has also fallen prey to a slew of policy shifts that have adversely impacted the performance of the team. At times, these policy changes have been steered by pressure from players and has significantly compromised the PCB’s disciplinary function. In 2010, the sports-governing institution enigmatically took back its decision to ban a few players from the cricket team and impose fines on them following disciplinary concerns during a tour to Australia 2010. A few policy changes have been fuelled by shifts in the management of the PCB and have long-term implications on the fate of cricket in the country. For instance, the decision taken during Ijaz Butt’s tenure in 2008 to sack the team’s foreign coach was reversed under a separate management led by Zaka Ashraf in 2012. The PCB needs to recognize the impact of these ever-changing policies and cultivate a sustainable framework that doesn’t paralyze the progress made by the team.

The resurgence of Test cricket and efforts to relocate the matches of the Pakistan Super League are among the PCB’s most valuable accomplishments. Even so, these achievements cannot disguise the Board’s failure to tackle its internal affairs. In August 2019, the PCB promulgated its new constitution. Since then, the sports-governing body has struggled to fulfil its constitutional requirements to devise a new Board of governors and a general body. Bolstered by a clause in its constitution on a ‘transitional period’, the PCB’s Board of governors still comprises old members whose tenures have expired a long time ago. In a similar vein, the PCB’s plan to establish elected bodies of the provincial cricket associations has yet to be implemented. The cricket Board’s decision to introduce a clause that requires all cricket associations to be registered under the Societies Act serves as a stumbling block. A quick glance at the legislation reveals that the registration of sports associations doesn’t fall within its remit.

Critics have raised concerns about the Board’s failure to regularly hold the Players Award ceremony and honour the achievements of players who excelled in the sport. The dismal performance of the women’s cricket team has also raised suspicions over the efficacy of the current PCB regime. What’s more, the move to abolish departmental teams has created a surge in joblessness. The Board has also been accused of losing its connection with the grassroots and doing little to streamline cricket at the city and provincial levels. Analysts have even voiced their reservations about the PSL’s financial viability and believe that the PCB could have planned the cricket extravaganza in a cost-effective manner.

Moving forward, the cricket Board needs to rectify its image by justifying its managerial choices. Until the PCB embarks on a course correction, it will continue to face a pushback in its decisions.

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