Imran Khan Calls Shahid Afridi Episode a Suicide Attack. Here’s Why

Perhaps the choice of words may be a little shocking. But the intent and the reasoning behind it is valid because the former Pakistan captain is only reiterating what many cricket minds are conjecturing judging by the whole fiasco surrounding Shahid Afridi and the Pakistan Cricket Board.

Imran Khan with Ijaz Butt

The ego battle between Afridi and the PCB has assumed alarming proportions with the matters have taken a twist from the PCB disciplinary committee hearing to the Sindh High Court. With yet another Pakistan cricketer being forced to drag matters to court, and the Pakistan Cricket Board resorting to resolving matters in such a manner as to put Pakistan cricket on the public stand and in turmoil, it seems only natural that there would be concerns regarding Pakistan cricket.

Imran Khan was reflecting on those worries as the situation between Shahid Afridi’s grievances and the Pakistan Cricket Board’s authority have gone completely haywire given the escalation of matters since Afridi spoke out against the Pakistan coach, Waqar Younis, resulting in his demotion by the PCB from the Pakistan ODI captain post. The saga continues on with Afridi’s conditional retirement from Pakistan cricket and making himself available for foreign Twenty20 leagues such as Hampshire only to have the PCB put their foot down to prevent him from participating by revoking the No Objection Certificate.

With the on going volley of strikes between the two parties, Pakistan cricket headlines are dominated not only the agenda and itinerary before Pakistan cricket but rather by the fiasco of the board and the players at loggerheads. With the extent of such matters in the PCB’s dossier, the former Pakistan captain who led Pakistan to victory in the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992, is concerned that these problems are emanating from an accountability factor on the part of the board, echoing the sentiments of those in cricket circles.

While it does not imply that the Pakistan cricketers may always be right, what the fiasco does suggest is that there is a lack of organization and coordinated functioning within the board that prevents the smooth resolution of issues and instead escalates tensions for all parties concerned. The spate of problems and captaincy changes witnessed under the present PCB regime seem to suggest that there is a lack of structure in thought process as well as implementation because by changing roles overnight over issues that should be resolved in a more becoming manner, the board is coming off looking inept, even in situations where the board has the right to take action against a player.

Imran Khan believes these kind of issues are cropping up too frequently to derail the progress that Pakistan cricket seems to make, pointing out to the fact that Pakistan reached the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 semi finals only to be plunged into problems that is taking a toll once more on the captaincy front and taking the attention away from the development and progress of sport in the nation. In Imran’s opinion, the entire structure of the board needs to be looked at, including the appointed of the PCB chief by the Pakistan president. Judging by the number of casualties of this system, it is obvious that without a proper stabilized functioning of the cricket board, ad hoc punishments cannot hold water for much longer and Pakistan cricket will keep getting stuck for want of the cricketers who have been mishandled one way or another.