The Cricketer with Mansoor Ahmed
Following the resignation of former president Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Dr. Naseem Ashraf tendered his resignation within hours.
Having seen the demise of the nation since and turmoil in Pakistan cricket, many fans wish they hadn’t.
The new chairman of the PCB, Iijaz Butt was appointed by President Zardari ahead of Tauqir Zia, Majid Khan and Khalid Mahmood. Everything appears to have turned into a disaster since he took over. The PCB failed to convince the ICC on holding the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, then India called off their tour,
Mohammed Asif was arrested in Dubai for possessing drugs and a clearly unfit and overweight Shoaib Akhtar forced his way back into Pakistan team assisted no doubt by a few friends in the new government. The icing on the cake was the humiliating defeat by Sri Lanka in the last ODI in Lahore when the Pakistani batting order was blown away for 75 runs in less than 23 overs. It was their lowest total in Pakistan.
Captain Shoaib Malik was visibly and quite rightly upset with the lack of commitment and fitness from Shoaib Akhtar, who only talks a good game these days.
The 33-year-old fast bowler was hit for 43 runs in the first test match and then took 45-1 off seven overs in the second match before being left out of the final game. The so-called Rawalpindi Express looked more like an old steam engine struggling to fire up. Akhtar was banned and fined $100,000 by the previous administration for disciplinary reasons but somehow his punishment was suspended after the resignation of Dr Nasim and he was drafted back into the team. He is clearly not fit and well past his sell by date. A string of promising youngsters have been knocking on the door for a long time and must be wondering what they have to do to get into the national squad.
