The PCB Chairmen and their responsibility for the stagnation of Pakistan Cricket today

[Savak]

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

 

[Shafi]

Excellent article!!!! Mani is as bad as Zaka Ashraf. Sethi was slightly better. Ijaz Butt was the worst one and Taukir was relatively better you mentioned above.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

Potw. Very informative and well analysed.

 

[Savak]

Excellent article!!!! Mani is as bad as Zaka Ashraf. Sethi was slightly better. Ijaz Butt was the worst one and Taukir was relatively better you mentioned above.

Wasim Khan himself acknowledged that it was Mani who spearheaded the PTV PCB $200 million deal. Just because the guy like Sethi does not come on the media every day and make masala attention seeking jazbati statements daily doesn't mean he is incompetent, he is a silent operator who has a slow but effective style of working.

Less said about the likes of Dr Nasim Ashraf, Ijaz Butt, Zaka Ashraf the better, wasted years for Pakistan Cricket.

 

[CricketingMinds]

2006-2015 ---> A decade under horrendous leadership pushed us and PCB way behind, both, on and off the cricket field.

Sethi, Mani and Wasim had to re-build A LOT of burnt bridges not just with ICC & other countries but also internally.

POTW for me!
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] - I know you might not see the glass half-full, but I like to give credit where its due. Though I am not a big Sethi fan, I think he did a great job of launching PSL and the 1st step towards bringing cricket back home.
Similarly, Wasim & Mani are doing a great job of building good political relationships with other cricket boards + building on Sethi's work to bring more teams to play cricket at home + the sponsorship & TV deals with PTV, SKY, Sony, Supersport, etc. (and don't forget...finally we get live streaming of domestic games on YouTube!)

Fans need to realize that mediocricity trickles top to bottom...10 years of mediocre leadership in the hierarchy has produced the medicore results we see on-field today.

It will probably take another 5-10 years of persistent and disciplined work to clean the mess.....No change happens overnight.

 

[Savak]

2006-2015 ---> A decade under horrendous leadership pushed us and PCB way behind, both, on and off the cricket field.

Sethi, Mani and Wasim had to re-build A LOT of burnt bridges not just with ICC & other countries but also internally.

POTW for me!
[MENTION=131701]Mamoon[/MENTION] - I know you might not see the glass half-full, but I like to give credit where its due. Though I am not a big Sethi fan, I think he did a great job of launching PSL and the 1st step towards bringing cricket back home.
Similarly, Wasim & Mani are doing a great job of building good political relationships with other cricket boards + building on Sethi's work to bring more teams to play cricket at home + the sponsorship & TV deals with PTV, SKY, Sony, Supersport, etc. (and don't forget...finally we get live streaming of domestic games on YouTube!)

Fans need to realize that mediocricity trickles top to bottom...10 years of mediocre leadership in the hierarchy has produced the medicore results we see on-field today.

It will probably take another 5-10 years of persistent and disciplined work to clean the mess.....No change happens overnight.

The sad part is that the work Sethi and now Ehsan Mani, Wasim Khan are doing is what the BCCI had been doing from 2000 onwards and even now there is still a lot more work to be done a the grass roots and we won't be seeing the fruits for atleast 10-15 years

 

[Savak]

My views on Tauqir Zia are mixed, i feel he made the right decision to get rid of the 90's players after the 2003 ODI WC performance. That team was filled with so much politics, intrigues, dressing room clashes that the team badly needed a fresh start with youngsters. Maybe he should have taken tough decisions on Wasim, Waqar during his tenure but such was the powerful stature, legendary reputation of most of the players in the Squad, he needed a bad 2003 ODI WC to finally kick everyone out.

However the damage the likes of Dr Nasim Ashraf, Ijaz Butt and Zaka Ashraf did to Pakistan Cricket was immense.

Najam Sethi needs to be credited for showing the initiative, personality to move things along and there is no doubt the PSL is his brain child and he revived international cricket in Pakistan in baby steps and with some out of pocket costs.

Ehsan Mani, Wasim Khan have been further able to build on Najam Sethi's good work and they have done some additional good things on their own as well as has been documented enough. But they need to carry on the good work without fear of the mafia for the next 5 years.

 

[Bigboii]

Ah a fun read [MENTION=2501]Savak[/MENTION]! Great job

 

[Mamoon]

[MENTION=129075]CricketingMinds[/MENTION]

Sethi gives people stomach ache because of political brainwashing, but the reality is that he did a tremendous job.

Without him, we would be inaugurating PSL somewhere around 2019-20 and as far as restoring international cricket in Pakistan is concerned, we would be at the 2016-17 stage where we had to beg on our knees to convince teams like Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka to play a few white ball matches in Pakistan for monetary incentives.

People like to give credit to Wasim and Mani for hosting Test cricket in Pakistan and convincing teams like South Africa and England to tour, but they have simply found themselves at the right place at the right time and are capitalizing on Sethi’s work.

Those incremental steps that we took from 2015 to 2018 is the reason why we were able to bring Test cricket back in 2019-20 and host the entire PSL.

Wasim is one of the most administrators PCB has had. He came with a lot of hype and fanfare and he has very little to show. The hot mess that he created out of the succession plan of Arthur summed up his incompetence.

There was nothing competent, professional and transparent about the way he handled the whole fiasco.

He is a sycophant who got the job by brown-nosing Imran. He expected VIP treatment from the ex-players and the media because he has a maroon passport and speaks a posh accent.

However, when he realized that working at PCB was not the bed of roses that he expected, he has been incessantly crying about the hostility and the criticism that he has been subjected to.

He is a softer than a plush pillow. He is now balking at a new contract because he either wants a raise (which he does not deserve) and or wants to go back to the UK because he cannot take the heat here.

As far as restructuring domestic cricket is concerned, it has nothing to do with Wasim. This is Imran’s concept, and he has been floating this idea for decades. It would have been implemented whenever he would have become the PCB patron and regardless of who the PCB leadership was at the time.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that this system is going to work. For now, people are simply hoping against hope out of desperation.

If having less number of teams means more competitiveness and greater quality of cricketers coming through, India would not have 38 FC teams.

If we go by this logic, if they cut it down to half, they will increase the standard of their cricket further.

If they follow the Pakistani model and end up with 6 teams only, then only the elite among the elites will break through such monstrous competition.

Every Indian cricketer would be Kohli, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Bumrah, Ashwin, Rohit, Gill etc. level, which means India will never lose a game of cricket again.

However, it clearly does not work that way.

You can call it a glass half-empty perspective, but I believe that Pakistan is destined for perpetual mediocrity and it will be better if the fans manage their expectations instead of daydreaming.

I do not think that we have the capacity to put an end to this mediocrity. I do not think we have the intelligence to come up with a plan that will make us an elite team in the long run.

Pakistan is the most cricket ignorant country in the world. We are an intellectually bankrupt cricket country in every sense of the world.

Our players, ex-players, local coaches, selectors, analysts, media, fans etc. have no clue about cricket.

Someone like Imran Khan has a very smart cricket brain, but he is out of touch with the modern game and is still living in the past. He cannot be trusted to make sound decisions because he does not follow the game anymore.

His insistence that Younis should bat at 3 in the 2015 World Cup is one of the many, many examples of his obsolete views on cricket and how he is still living in the 80s and 90s.

There is not an iota of doubt in my mind that 10 years from now, Pakistan would still be a 6th or 7th ranked side in the world.

 

[omairsiddiqui]

These threads on how bad we are always seem to emerge after an Indian success.

 

[Markhor]

POTW, a nice summation. Most of these chairmen had only one qualification for the job which was their political connections. Few had cricketing administration experience and were only concerned with accumulating power for themselves, using cricket as an ego trip.

I think the administrations between 1990 until now hold major responsibility for today's state of Pakistan cricket. Much like the WICB and SLC, they thought the conveyor belt of matchwinning international cricketers would never end, and neglected the grassroots/domestic game. Excuses were trotted out like no international cricket at home or no series with India yet South Africa spent over 20 years in exile but had few problems after readmission in 1991 because their FC and school setup remained strong !

None reformed domestic cricket meaningfully, not taking unpopular decisions like abolishing departments for fear of upsetting the media and status quo mafia. Instead they uselessly tinkered around the edges.

As for long-term organisational strategies, are you kidding ?! As Giles Clarke said "PCB Chairmen change every few days" so nobody bothered.

Current PCB provides some hope. They've made major reforms to FC system and HPC, while much of the old guard have gone. It's the only setup I remember that's introduced a 5 year corporate governance plan with roles and responsibilities defined. The Board of Governors now has directors with business pedigree like Javed Kurieshi and Arif Saeed, while there's the first independent female director in Alia Zafar.

Get the off-field stuff right and then things will improve on-the-field.

 

[observer1]

[MENTION=129075]CricketingMinds[/MENTION]

Sethi gives people stomach ache because of political brainwashing, but the reality is that he did a tremendous job.

Without him, we would be inaugurating PSL somewhere around 2019-20 and as far as restoring international cricket in Pakistan is concerned, we would be at the 2016-17 stage where we had to beg on our knees to convince teams like Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka to play a few white ball matches in Pakistan for monetary incentives.

People like to give credit to Wasim and Mani for hosting Test cricket in Pakistan and convincing teams like South Africa and England to tour, but they have simply found themselves at the right place at the right time and are capitalizing on Sethi’s work.

Those incremental steps that we took from 2015 to 2018 is the reason why we were able to bring Test cricket back in 2019-20 and host the entire PSL.

Wasim is one of the most administrators PCB has had. He came with a lot of hype and fanfare and he has very little to show. The hot mess that he created out of the succession plan of Arthur summed up his incompetence.

There was nothing competent, professional and transparent about the way he handled the whole fiasco.

He is a sycophant who got the job by brown-nosing Imran. He expected VIP treatment from the ex-players and the media because he has a maroon passport and speaks a posh accent.

However, when he realized that working at PCB was not the bed of roses that he expected, he has been incessantly crying about the hostility and the criticism that he has been subjected to.

He is a softer than a plush pillow. He is now balking at a new contract because he either wants a raise (which he does not deserve) and or wants to go back to the UK because he cannot take the heat here.

As far as restructuring domestic cricket is concerned, it has nothing to do with Wasim. This is Imran’s concept, and he has been floating this idea for decades. It would have been implemented whenever he would have become the PCB patron and regardless of who the PCB leadership was at the time.

Moreover, there is no guarantee that this system is going to work. For now, people are simply hoping against hope out of desperation.

If having less number of teams means more competitiveness and greater quality of cricketers coming through, India would not have 38 FC teams.

If we go by this logic, if they cut it down to half, they will increase the standard of their cricket further.

If they follow the Pakistani model and end up with 6 teams only, then only the elite among the elites will break through such monstrous competition.

Every Indian cricketer would be Kohli, Tendulkar, Dhoni, Bumrah, Ashwin, Rohit, Gill etc. level, which means India will never lose a game of cricket again.

However, it clearly does not work that way.

You can call it a glass half-empty perspective, but I believe that Pakistan is destined for perpetual mediocrity and it will be better if the fans manage their expectations instead of daydreaming.

I do not think that we have the capacity to put an end to this mediocrity. I do not think we have the intelligence to come up with a plan that will make us an elite team in the long run.

Pakistan is the most cricket ignorant country in the world. We are an intellectually bankrupt cricket country in every sense of the world.

Our players, ex-players, local coaches, selectors, analysts, media, fans etc. have no clue about cricket.

Someone like Imran Khan has a very smart cricket brain, but he is out of touch with the modern game and is still living in the past. He cannot be trusted to make sound decisions because he does not follow the game anymore.

His insistence that Younis should bat at 3 in the 2015 World Cup is one of the many, many examples of his obsolete views on cricket and how he is still living in the 80s and 90s.

There is not an iota of doubt in my mind that 10 years from now, Pakistan would still be a 6th or 7th ranked side in the world.

If you weren't so childish in your bias and can't even give credit to Wasim Khan, people might take what you have to say seriously.

You need to remember Mamoon, not all of us look in the mirror every morning and berate ourselves for aiming high.

If you want to live with low expectations, that's fine. Don't berate others here for being objective and positive

 

[the Great Khan]

Good post [MENTION=2501]Savak[/MENTION].

from my point of view dr naseem ashraf was the one who set in motion the events that lead to our serious decline. He was a complete political appointy and his desire to continue with Musharrefs delusions of being the pakistani attaturk helped destroy what at the time was a pretty adequate team. He also helped launch the IPL by ensuring there was no real opposition to it from the PCB's side and even banned our players coz they played in the rival league. His appointment of shoaib "ve r professional" malik further helped destroy our team. Ijaz Butt was the end result of this dentists hera pheri.

Coming onto the comments about Wasim khan and Mani. Mani is very competent and wasim is also doing a great job. We now have a vision and objectives , they have a strategy that they are working towards. The deals with the tv companies on their own are brilliant.

(its unfortunate that the forums resident naysayer has nothing good to say but then what do you expect from one of his llk)

Overall i would say Naseem ashraf was the one who started the rot and then the rest just followed.

Oh and sethi did a great job trying to get cricket back and the PSL but voerall I would dsay he lacked real vision and like naseem ashraf wanted to try and find a way to hang on the coat tails of the BCCI again. Otherwise he was ok.

I like the current regime more because I dont hear any stupidity in the media and they are just getting on with it..

 

[Titan24]

Good and informative post.

 

[MenInG]

Good analysis but the older chairmen had big problems with player power to deal with, the newer ones less so.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

A few things I would like to add to an a well made post.

Naseem Ashraf: Possibly even worse than Ijaz Butt and came on the back of Shahryar Khan's resignation when Younis Khan refused to accept captaincy for CT 06 after Inzi was suspended for 4 or 6 international matches. He was as incompetent as possible.

The debacle of wc07 falls on his shoulders a lot because of many things people might have forgotten by now. After Asif and Akhtar were banned for doping just before CT06, he appointed a panel independent of ICC, to hear the appeals of both bowlers. A bit shockingly, bans of both bowlers were overturned and were rushed right away on the SA tour. Akhtar broke down during the first inning of second test match(his first), and was not picked for wc. The curious case was of Asif, who despite being fit according to close sources, was not sent for wc because of some fears of him getting banned again.

In addition to that, he was instrumental in letting a large amount of pakistani players to ICL considering it not being a big threat. A Razzaq was dropped from wc 07 squad stating he was not fit enough for the format. He promised Mohd Yousaf that he would be awarded an IPL contract if he decides to not join ICL. After Yousaf got "snubbed", he chose to go to ICL too.

Apart from that, he was involved in a petty dispute with Shoaib Akhtar of all people, which after some time led to his downfall as the pcb chief. There was also ill planned 2008 under him, which probably remains Pakistan's only year without a single Test match since 2000 or even longer.

Shahryar Khan's first tenure was also marred by the oval test fiasco, when Pak team refused to take the field after being alleged of ball tempering by the douchebag and his stooge (Darrel Hair and Doctrove). Whilst waiting for Pak team to come take field, Zaheer Abbas was foolishly seen on the lobby using a cellphone.
But to Shahryar's credit, he helped create the first action testing facility in conjunction with LUMS in Pakistan.

Zaka Ashraf is also another one who gets spared by the general public, but he was probably just as crooked as Nasim Ashraf. Before him, PCB was believed to be in profits, and upon his ousting PCB was apparently in dire straits. He used to take his whole family alongside on every tour Pak team was on, and was routinely caught watching Pak's matches in stadia frequently.

He also held BCB on ransom and with held NOC's of all Pakistani cricketers for an exchange of a tour to Pakistan which fractured PCB and BCB's relations as well.

 

[Savak]

Good analysis but the older chairmen had big problems with player power to deal with, the newer ones less so.

Dr Ashraf was just crooked, he ran with his tails in the wag the moment Musharraf resigned, he had a very scrupulous reputation at the NHCD and later at the PCB. How can he explain the PCB's reserves declining from Rs 6 billion to Rs 1.5 billion during his two year tenure in which the PCB received ICC funding, hosted the Asia Cup, received the ODI and T-20 2007 WC participation funds? Where did the funds go exactly? What was done for the benefit of Pakistan Cricket where Rs 4.5 billion had to be spent?

They just wanted to dictatorially control the PCB and the players and justified their actions under the pretext of curbing player power.

 

[Colorblind Genius]

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

Good OP but perhaps the true culprits behind the destruction of Pak cricket are those people who placed these incompetent chairmen of PCB. Musharraf Zardari and Nawaz Shareef.

 

[Savak]

Najam Sethi resume as PCB Chairman

1) Introducing the PSL successfully and making it the second best T-20 league in the world after IPL

2) Taking the initial steps to bring international cricket back to Pakistan

3) Champions Trophy win during his tenure in 2017

4) Successfully getting a stubborn BCCI to agree to the PCB Hybrid Model for the Asia Cup

You cannot argue against his achievements, the previous people with bigger profiles failed to get things done.

 

[Babeikh]

Good thread.

Ijaz Butt is by far the worst in my view because two of the most catastrophic events in Pakistan cricket history happened under his watch, and both were handled incompetently.

1. The terrorist attack against the Sri Lankan team
2. The spot fixing

 

[Kianig89]

All of them are worst created that dubious ICL and paved the way for t20 in subcontinent amd paying the price now

 

[zoeyfactor]

I agree, Sethi sahab has been good PCB leader. Credit where credit is due.

 

[SM1989]

Lets add Ramiz to the list. Big talker but atrocious implementer.

 

[Babeikh]

Ramiz had a great vision for domestic cricket structure which he had started but not implemented fully. I think another couple of years and he would have with the city structure beneath the provinces etc.

Other than that he was a showman. Loved media attention and had this weird obsession with producing flat wickets in tests

 

[Major]

Really poor analysis, filled with assumptions and fairy tales. Writing a long post doesn't classify it as a good analysis. Some of the stuff is based upon what Akhtar had said..

1. Tauqir Zia was the one who got his son to play international cricket. He also started the captaincy musical chairs aswell

2. Sheryar Khan dont know, but he got us hosting rights for the 2011 world cup.

3. DNA wasn't as bad as SHoaib Akhtar had made him to be. Only akhtar had issues under DNA, and DNA was right to ban AKhtar as he was involved in substance abuse and in every other controversy. Malik was no puppet. He was a good captain, it was the ego of senior players that got hurt by playing under him.

4. Ijazz Butt was never the worst. First of all player security isnt the PCB chaiman's responsibility. Its the interior ministers responsibility. You can not blame Ijazz Butt for the terrorist attack. Its infact very childish to blame him

Plus, butt destroyed the player power. He was the only chairman and only person to break the ego of Younis Khan. Yeh yeh, he made a few statements, but he got alot of hate due to media. He never really paid the media to write favorable for him.

5. Zaka Ashraf was the worst chairman because his decisions were based on media. If media critisized a player he would want that player to be dropped. He had Misbah retired as from t20i. He was hosting parties after every series, which was ridiculous. And the worst was he went to India signed a MOU and got us to tour there. Even though, it was India that was required to tour pakistan. Because of him we are now owned 2 tours by India.

6. Sethi bought cricket back to Pakistan and created PSL.

7. Ehsan Mani was old and fragile and he was made Chairman just for the sake of it. They hired Wasim khan under him and delegate decision making powers to him.


Interestingly, in your so called analysis, you whine about Zaka Ashraf and DNA being political appointees but dont even know that every pcb chairman you mentioned was a political appointee. They were made chairman due to the flaws in the constitution and due to the fact that they belonged or supported a certain political party

 

[Hitman]

Good thread.

Ijaz Butt is by far the worst in my view because two of the most catastrophic events in Pakistan cricket history happened under his watch, and both were handled incompetently.

1. The terrorist attack against the Sri Lankan team
2. The spot fixing

Remember how he openly accused England players to be involved match fixing when the trio of Butt, Aamir and Asif were caught?

 

[Markhor]

Remember how he openly accused England players to be involved match fixing when the trio of Butt, Aamir and Asif were caught?

I'll never forget he said he heard "loud and clear talk" in bookie circles.

I also recall him saying Big 3 are sons of pigs with Najam Sethi awkwardly smiling alongside him.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

First we need to define what the remit, roles and responsibilities of the chairman pcb are before deciding who was good or bad in the role.

 

[Hitman]

I'll never forget he said he heard "loud and clear talk" in bookie circles.

I also recall him saying Big 3 are sons of pigs with Najam Sethi awkwardly smiling alongside him.

And that was after England provided them neutral ground to play.

 

[Mamoon]

Najam Sethi resume as PCB Chairman

1) Introducing the PSL successfully and making it the second best T-20 league in the world after IPL

2) Taking the initial steps to bring international cricket back to Pakistan

3) Champions Trophy win during his tenure in 2017

4) Successfully getting a stubborn BCCI to agree to the PCB Hybrid Model for the Asia Cup

You cannot argue against his achievements, the previous people with bigger profiles failed to get things done.

What criteria/metric were used to decide that PSL is the best league in the world after IPL?

It is easy to see why IPL is number one and by a massive margin, but what makes PSL number two other than fan opinion?

 

[YousafTheBeast]

What criteria/metric were used to decide that PSL is the best league in the world after IPL?

It is easy to see why IPL is number one and by a massive margin, but what makes PSL number two other than fan opinion?

PSL is the 2nd best league imo, I can’t think of any other league that comes close to PSL.

Vitality Blast has like 18 counties, most games aren’t even broadcasted on TV.

The Hundred is a joke.

The BBL has a poor quality of overseas players, plus their national teams players miss out or opt out due to international commitments or low salary.

SA T20 league has just launched again after multiple failures.

CPL is probably 3rd on the list after PSL.

SL T20 league doesn’t have the hype.

BPL is boring.

 

[Mamoon]

PSL is the 2nd best league imo, I can’t think of any other league that comes close to PSL.

Vitality Blast has like 18 counties, most games aren’t even broadcasted on TV.

The Hundred is a joke.

The BBL has a poor quality of overseas players, plus their national teams players miss out or opt out due to international commitments or low salary.

SA T20 league has just launched again after multiple failures.

CPL is probably 3rd on the list after PSL.

SL T20 league doesn’t have the hype.

BPL is boring.

As I said, PSL is the second best league based on the opinion of the fans. It is not backed by anything objective or data-based.

If we go by opinions then some have even claimed that PSL is better than IPL because the quality of bowling is better according to them. It doesn’t mean anything.

If someone is new to cricket, how would you or anyone else convince that person that PSL is the second best league in the world?

IPL has all the big numbers, it is very easy to make a claim for them as number one. People who put PSL at number two need to adopt a more data-driven approach and reference numbers not personal opinions.

I personally don’t have any opinion on the T20 leagues ranking outside IPL but I would be interested to see some numbers that can support or not support any claims that are thrown around for different leagues.