Shah Khawar: Nothing has been going right in the Pakistan cricket team and the Pakistan Cricket Board for the past year, and the team is ultimately bearing the brunt of it. In this context, Shah Khawar, a lawyer for the Supreme Court of Pakistan, was appointed as the interim chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) on Wednesday. Shah Khawar has been working as the election commissioner for the PCB, and he will play a crucial role in overseeing the elections for the permanent chairman scheduled for next month.
After assuming this position, Shah Khawar stated that he is grateful to Mr. Anwar-ul-Haq Kakar, the caretaker of the PCB, for trusting in him. His aim is to conduct the election for the PCB chairman independently and transparently. He said,
“I would like to thank the Patron of the PCB, Mr Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, for reposing trust in me. My primary responsibility will be to hold the election of Chairman PCB in a free and transparent manner at the earliest.”
Rameez Raja’s resignation
It should be noted that since Rameez Raja’s resignation in December 2022, there has been no elected chairman in the Pakistan Cricket Board. After Rameez Raja’s departure, Najam Sethi took on the responsibility for a brief period. However, he resigned from the position shortly thereafter. In July 2023, Zaka Ashraf assumed the role, but now he has also resigned from his position, causing significant turmoil within the board.
The recent restructuring and appointments until February 4 are part of the government’s directive to ensure the formation of the Board of Governors and the conduct of elections for the PCB chairman. However, this deadline was not met, leading to the resignation of Muhammad Zaka Ashraf.
During Ashraf’s tenure, the performance of the Pakistan cricket team was extremely disappointing. Firstly, the team faced defeat in the Asia Cup played on their home ground, and then in the ICC World Cup 2023 hosted in India, Pakistani players did not achieve anything significant. This led to mounting pressure on the board consistently.
Also Read This: WPL 2024: Full schedule, teams, Venues, Match Timings and Live Broadcast
Babar Azam resigned from captaincy
Due to the poor performance even before all these issues, Babar Azam had to resign from his captaincy. Following this, Shan Masood was assigned the responsibility of leading the Test team, while Shaheen Afridi was given the duty to captain the T20 team. However, even after these changes, there is no improvement in the performance of the Pakistan team.
Performance of Pakistan team in recent matches
After the conclusion of the ICC World Cup 2023, the Pakistan team directly headed to Australia, where, under the captaincy of Shan Masood, they were supposed to play a series of 3 Test matches on Australian soil. All Pakistani fans hoped that a change in captaincy might bring improvement in the team’s performance. However, that did not happen, and under the leadership of the new Test captain, Shan Masood, the Pakistan team had to face a 3-0 defeat against Australia.
Meanwhile, Shaheen Shah Afridi, who became the captain of the T20 team, also couldn’t live up to the fans’ expectations. As the T20I captain for Pakistan, Shahin recently played his first series against the New Zealand team, and in that series, the Pakistan team had to face defeat. In the series of 5 T20 matches played between Pakistan and New Zealand, the Kiwi team secured the T20 series 4-1. Disturbed by the team’s consistent poor performance, coach Mickey Arthur and director Grant Bradburn have also resigned. Now, it remains to be seen what unfolds for the Pakistan cricket team and the Pakistan Cricket Board.
Also Read This: Clash of Titans: India vs Afghanistan Cricket Series 2024 – A Recap
Also Read This: Shikhar Dhawan to Wriddhiman Saha: 5 players who might never to return to the Team India again
