Thursday, March 22, 2007

Aamir Sohail Head of PCB?

Well, somehow Pakistani cricket wants to have everything go around and then come around, again and again. Here first, is an interview of Aamir Sohail, ex-Pakistani opener, captain and Chairman Selectors. BBC carried out an extensive interview with him and senior sports reporter Ehsan Qureshi. They both spoke strongly about the need for the sport in Pakistan to have effective, experienced leadership with expertise in sports and cricket. While that may seem self-evident, lets just remember that the last few chairs have been Dr. Ashraf, Shaharyar Khan and Tauqir Zia with limited or no sporting experience. Aamir Sohail and Qureshi appear to be advocating for a local, home-grown Urdu speaking coach, and while Sohail seems to think that Younis Khan has the inside track for the captaincy, Qureshi, like Kamran Abbasi on Cricinfo, feels that someone younger like Shahid Afridi or Shoaib Malik may be better suited for the long-term good of the team. Interesting comments, and one might even concede that they may not have a significant bearing on the future, until I came across this report.

Here, a rumour is being put forward, that sources in the PCB feel that Aamir Sohail will be the next chair of the PCB. I need to do some thinking about this, but I don't seem to think its a great idea. Pakistan needs to make a firm break with the past to have any long-term credibility in this realm of rethinking the game in the country. Aamir Sohail is used goods, and like many figures in Pakistani cricket, may just carry too much baggage to be effective in his position. Just can't get myself to see him in this role. Yet this rumour puts his comments to the BBC in an even more important light.

1 comments:

Teeth Maestro said...

some interesting thoughts - should open it to discussion on Cricket bloggers -

BUt i agree with you - we need to break the norm and bring in a different coach that can change whatever was going on previously - Aamir Shoail simply does not have the brains to take on the team. I itch for Imran Khan -btu hes too politically inclined to take this job