KARACHI, 12 December 2003 — Shaharyar Khan, who takes over as the new Pakistan cricket chief from Dec. 14 said that he would be making changes in the board set-up.
“Changes would be made but after careful thought and patience. There will be no change for the sake of change. But yes I would like to see some things done differently by different people,” Shaharyar said in an interview.
The former foreign secretary and career diplomat pointed out that he was not familiar with many of the people in the board. But added that a lot of them were doing a good job and in many cases he felt that there was a need for continuity.
“I don’t want to go into details. But yes changes would be made carefully.”
He also made it clear that he strongly believed in accountability and transparency in the functioning of the board and its officials — employed or honorary.
“I fully understand the interest and passion with which people in this country follow cricket. My desire would be to see everyone is accountable for his actions including the selectors.”
The 69-year-old Shaharyar said he would like to see the board’s old constitution revived and a move back to normalcy from ad-hocism. “We have to build up the PCB as an institution.”
“But I have yet to meet with the president and know what my terms and conditions are. Only then will I be able to decide on my policies.”
Shaharyar, who also managed the Pakistan teams on tours to India in 1999 and in this year’s World Cup, stated that he would like to see the selectors paying more attention to players who are capable of performing in crisis. “We need to have players with ability to handle crisis management. I don’t like any showmanship from the players or board officials and I would ask everyone to work hard for the country and the team.”
Shaharyar insisted that the Pakistan team still needed players with lots of character. “I have had a chance to interact with the players and I found them straight forward and spirited. But we need to further improve upon these qualities.”
The new chairman of the PCB said he would also like to give top priority to introducing a central contract system for the players. Shaharyar who has taken over from Lt. Gen. (retd) Tauqir Zia after his four-year term felt that the players needed more financial security and he would study the possibility of a central contract system for players. “The way I look at it, Pakistan is one of the few countries where we don’t have separate Test and one-day teams. And where we have contracts on series to series basis. This has led to financial insecurity among players and some good players being wasted,” he said.
He cited the name of batsman Wajahatullah Wasti in this connection. “My feeling is that if we have a central contract system for the players this sense of insecurity would be removed and they would be happy playing one form of the game and we can introduce specialization of craft.”
“At present the situation is that we find players trying to manipulate the selection system to find places in both Test and One-day squads,” he added.
Shaharyar said on the international front he would like to see a permanent solution to the problem of foreign teams backing out of confirmed tours on grounds of security and safety concerns.
“Once we have reassured teams of their security and safety and once they accept responsibility of touring Pakistan in principle I don’t think it is right for them to then threaten to pull out.” He said that the Pakistan board, in recent months, had shown it was perfectly capable of providing proper security to visiting teams. “I don’t think we need to do more on that front. I think we should now be able to induce foreign teams to tour regularly.”
“My view is clear once foreign teams accept a tour then they have to accept assurances of the home board regarding security and all other matters I intend to ensure that in future visiting teams don’t dictate to us which venues they want to play at,” he added. Shahayar stressed he would be giving great importance to cricket relations with India. He said the Indian team would be given a warm welcome when they tour in February-April.
Pakistan Can Go to Win the Olympic Hockey Title: Oltmans
Pakistan’s foreign hockey coach Roelant Oltmans believes that Pakistan with hard work can go on to win the Olympic hockey title for the first time since 1984 next year in Athens.
The celebrated Dutch coach who has been hired by the Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) to revive Pakistan’s sagging hockey fortunes told a news conference on Wednesday that Pakistan had the capacity to win the Olympic hockey gold.
“A lot of hard work is required. There are flaws in the team but also many plus points. We have nine months to put things together and take a serious shot at the Olympic hockey gold,” he stated.
Pakistan, once a hockey powerhouse, has not won a major hockey title since the World Cup in 1994 and its last Olympic gold came in 1984. Oltmans was hired by the Pakistan hockey authorities in October but his assignment with the Pakistan team starts in the Azlan Shah Cup tournament scheduled in January in Kuala Lumpur.
The 49-year-old Dutch coach guided Holland to the 1996 Olympics and 1998 World Cup titles to make them a hockey powerhouse.
“I have brought in to prepare the team for the Olympics. That is my main task. So our first step is to win the Olympic-qualifying tournament in Madrid in March,” Oltmans said. Seven teams will qualify from the qualifying tournament in March for the Olympic Games.
He said the positive thing was that Pakistan despite having hard times in recent years had still not fallen out of the top five hockey playing nations.
“That is a positive signs. It shows Pakistan has hockey talent. But it is not going to be easy in the Olympics because now there are atleast six to seven teams all capable of winning the title,” he added.
