Inzamam airs grievances against PCB after resigning as chief selector
Inzamamul Haq on Wednesday aired his greivances against the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) days after resigning as the chief selector of the Pakistan men’s cricket team.
Haq had resigned as chief selector last week after media reports claimed he had a stake in a player’s management company registered with the PCB. The reports said several top players, including Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan, were associated with the company. The reports subsequently raised questions regarding the team selection process.
“I think that if you had to investigate me, or make an inquiry committee then you could have done so after the World Cup. I was still going to be here.”
He said that ever since the 1992 World Cup, “non-cricketers” blamed the players and absolved themselves of any culpability whenever the team’s performance was not up to par.
He also took issue with PCB chief Zaka Ashraf first being appointed four a period of four months before being given an extension of another three.
“What development work will you accomplish off in four or three months? What actually happens is that when you’re taking extensions of three to four months, you try to shift your things onto others.
“I’m not saying it is his (Ashraf) fault but a person tries to save themselves” and shift responsibility for his mistakes onto others, he said.
Haq said he was ready to take responsibility if the team played poorly but not for deflecting blame.
“If the team is playing poorly then it is our team and we have to support and take it forward. We never try to save face and escape blame because when we [start saying] ‘this is is my fault, this is someone else’s fault’ then even the hope remaining gets shattered.”
During the interview, a clip was also played of Ashraf’s interview to ARY News wherein he said that there appeared to be a “conflict of interest” when it came to reports about team selection.
“He (Ashraf) has again tried to save himself,” Haq said. He said that Saya Corporation, one of the agencies embroiled in the recent controversy, was representing him.
“They are recommended by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the board has the whole record,” he said. He further said that Yazoo International Ltd, a second company involved in the controversy, had been formed during Covid but added that there were never any transactions.
He said this company was also officially registered and not some “secret” that was uncovered.
Haq said he had also played a crucial role in resolving the dispute over the squad’s central contracts the night before the team left for the World Cup, adding that it was a matter which had been pending for a while.
“You should have given me credit, that an issue that was not being resolved for three to four months, I sat everyone down and resolved it and later you are accusing me?”
Haq said that instead of going and giving the interview to “save himself”, Ashraf should have called him up and asked him to clarify the reports.
“You did not ask me nor did you ask Talha Rehmani,” he said. Haq also alleged that he was being stonewalled about the progress and proceedings of the inquiry against him.
He said that he was informed about the PCB’s refusal to accept his resignation from television reports. “The board did not tell me. I got to know this through the TV,” he said, adding that there had been no communication from that side.
He said that he was given his selection team only 10 days ago, after Pakistan had played several matches in the World Cup. “Otherwise the other selection team was working, which included Mickey Arthur, Grant Bradburn and others.”
He also said he was undermined as the chief selector by Ashraf in the wake of Pakistan’s Asia Cup defeat.
“Don’t try to save yourself,” he advised the PCB chief. Haq lamented that it was “very painful for me when someone comes for three or four months and lectures me about my character.”
Questioned if he would assume his former position again, Haq all but confirmed that he would not. The former chief selector complained about the prevalence of negativity instead of positivity in the PCB’s and cricketing affairs.
Says problems arise when people try to avoid or deflect blame instead of taking responsibility.
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