There are so many candidates. We have had the following chairman's from 2000
1999 to 2003 (Tauqir Zia)
- Apparently Tauqir Zia started the efforts to modernize Pakistan Cricket by building the NCA and Academies. He also eventually made the decision to purge Pakistani Cricket of the legendary players from the 90's and to create a new look team.
However the one drawback of his regime was his decision to completely centralize the Cricket boards i.e. the PCB was responsible for all the regional associations, the upkeep of the stadiums and this decision actually resulted in huge unavoidable financial liabilities for Pakistan
2003 to 2006 (Shahryar Khan)
Under Shahryar Khan's leadership we enjoyed two highly profitable home series against India in 2004 and 2006. Apparently the PCB became so rich that it decided to finally offer central contracts to the players.
We had plenty of A tours under Syk and the NCA was busy as well. However the one big drawback of his regime was that he was very laidback, relaxed and gave Inzamam too much power, authority in the affairs of the Pakistani team which he came to regret later on.
The oval ball tampering saga in 2006 ultimately sealed his fate as his leadership was by and large seen as spineless in the saga and the Pakistani govt at the time was also frustrated by his inability to bring an ICC event to Pakistan.
However under Shyk the PCB was financially in a very good place and was just behind India, the PCB were able to influence the ICC to spare Inzamam from a very serious sentence and the ICC decided to rule against Darrel Hair. Apparently when he left the PCB, the PCB had cash reserves of Rs 6 billion
2006 to 2008 (Dr Nasim Ashraf)
DNA was perhaps one of the most crooked chairman's in history who got the job because of his relationship with General Musharraf. Under his leadership, the relationship with the board and players completely broke down. The guy made Shoaib Malik the captain purely because he wanted a puppet he could control, he alienated all the senior players in the team at the time and this created friction, disharmony in the squad and the team suffered because half the team went to the ICL.
Under his leadership, even though Pakistan was able to enjoy hosting the Asia Cup in 2008, when he left the PCB, the PCB only had reserves of Rs 1.5 billion. There were numerous allegations of financial impropriety against him at the NCHD and its no surprise the same continued in 2008. It was under him the financial downfall of the PCB accelerated.
2008 to 2011 (Ijaz Butt)
The worst, most backward and incompetent chairman in our cricketing history. It was under this buffoon that the Sri Lankan attacks took place in 2009, an event that totally destroyed Pakistan Cricket and exiled it from the international community and eliminated international cricket from Pakistan.
The worst aspect of it was his response to the attacks where instead of taking any personal responsibility, he just chose to blame the provincial government and also blasted the match referee emotional response to the attacks.
Relationship between the board and the players were at an all time low and we must have had 4-5 captains during his era. The worst part of his rule was his old fashioned, lethargic style of "Jaisa Chal raha hai, Waisay hi chalnay do", the man did nothing as far as figuring out how Pakistan Cricket could financially sustain itself and fund its cricketing activities so that it doesn't fall behind the rest of the world who were moving on and making progress as far as T-20, ODI Cricket was concerned.
I hope Mr Ijaz Butt responsible for the problems of Pakistan Cricket today and the fact we are now a good 10-20 years behind the Big 4-5 nations today in all formats because he chose to just sit on his behind and do nothing.
Let's not forget this buffoon's behavior and media statements at the height of the spot fixing scandal in 2010 which effectively ensured that the ECB wanted nothing to do with Pakistan Cricket.
2011 to 2013-2014 (Zaka Ashraf)
Zaka Ashraf sadly as has been confirmed a misfit for the post of PCB chairman and the only reason he got the job was because of his relationships with the PPP govt at the time.
He may have been somewhat more proactive than Ijaz Butt but again the PCB spent a lot of money on launching the Pakistan Premier League but he didn't have the guts to make big decisions in the face of uncertainty. He chose to abandon the project after being told that no major foreign players were prepared to come to Pakistan for the tournament and that the tournament would be a flop in Pakistan if held without major foreign players and there is no point in playing it in the UAE.
He also agreed to sacrifice a home series that the PCB was due to host India and instead he agreed to send the Pakistani team to India for the T-20's and ODI series in 2012-13 where the BCCI made all the money, profits and the PCB got nothing assuming the BCCI will going forward will agree to tour Pakistan or agree to play them in the UAE. He fell for the scam and now hides behind the excuse that the PPP government pressurized him to accept the tour to India.
He also incompetently handled the Big 3 saga where the PCB oppossed the Big 3 formula and everyone in the Pakistani Cricket community was screaming that the PCB was going to be powerless to stop it and that the rest of the countries would eventually agree to the Big 3 formula in exchange for getting favors from the BCCI and that the PCB better sign off on it and getting something from the BCCI while it still had some bargaining power. Unfortunately for the PCB, it was left all alone as all the other countries sided with the BCCI and therefore the PCB had no bargaining power and could get no promises from the BCCI.
Overall as far as the PCB is concerned, his leadership was disasterous and the PCB could not make any financial progress and our cricket continued to stagnate, decline
2014 to 2018 (Najam Sethi, Shahryar Khan)
Najam Sethi was a welcome break from the previous two PCB chairman's. Everyone in 2015 remembered who scared everyone was about the PCB launching the PSL in UAE and whether the league was going to be successful or not. During this time the Sri Lankans and South Africans tried launching their leagues and they failed so badly that they didn't have the guts to try it again.
Most people in the PCB were extremely scared to even think about implementing the project and Shahryar Khan to save his own behind made Sethi the PSL project head and Sethi accepted the challenge head on i.e. if its a failure, i will accept the blame.
The gamble paid off and even though it wasn't a huge financial success, it wasn't a massive loss making operation either. The PSL more than money, gave Pakistani's self confidence, belief that they could launch a league of international repute quality and with every season the PSL grew, more foreign players joined, the broad cast deals skyrocketed three folds later on and now it is back in Pakistan.
Sethi also kickstarted bringing international teams back to Pakistan even if it meant offering teams like Zimbabwe, West Indies $500,000 each but it was the requirement of the time as the security situation in Pakistan did not inspire confidence. But no doubt he laid the seeds. He carried out activities, operations to ensure the PCB had its own revenue generation streams where they could be somewhat self sufficient and be able to be independent from the ICC funding and BCCI
2018 to now (Ehsan Mani)
No need to add much. Everyone knows about the PTV PCB $200 million deal, the deal with sky sports, sony, super sports, the appointment of the best possible legends available in Pakistan in our national team, national high performance centres, bringing in Wasim Khan, revamping our domestic cricket structure.
In interest of fairness, i will say Najam Sethi kickstarted the financial and innovative, out of the box thinking of the PCB and the likes of Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan build on it
Overall i hold Ijaz Butt and Zaka Ashraf responsible for their lethargic, old fashioned, dheet leadership and wasted opportunities due to which we are now 10-20 years behind the Big 5 in International Cricket
