Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Having taken a lot of flak for what he believes is not his fault, Ramiz Raja comes out all guns blazing.

For a person who has been drawing fire from all corners, Ramiz Raja was calm and collected as he greeted me in his secretary’s office and motioned me to follow him into his office. For the next two hours, I was overwhelmed by his honesty, a down-to-earth approach and above all his passion for the game of cricket. He came across as a person who is at peace with his inner-self and is definitely not carrying any burden on his conscience or any baggage under his eyes.

On a number of occasions, one has heard Ramiz say that he was not party to such and such decision or so and so deal. This raises a question as to the role of Chief Executive Officer of PCB vis-à-vis his responsibilities and accountabilities. According to Ramiz, the role of the CEO of PCB is more of a facilitator, advisor, and enforcer of the PCB’s policies. The overall responsibility of decision-making rests with the Chairman of PCB. The CEO’s job is to ensure that all decisions taken by the Chairman are communicated and acted upon accordingly. The title of CEO therefore is misleading in more ways than one.

Although at present there seems to be an implicit understanding between the present Chairman and the CEO, but if PCB is to move forward the role of CEO needs to be clearly defined and documented.

Another key ingredient missing as far human resources management at PCB is concerned, is the element of documented job specifications and job descriptions. Job security and job requirements in terms of responsibilities and accountabilities can be characterized as the biggest gray area at PCB.

Notwithstanding the existing flaws, for the first time in the history of PCB, positions for the Development Officers for the regional cricket academies were advertised. Much to the dismay of all concerned, the response was not all that encouraging. That goes on to demonstrate people’s lack of faith in the organization HR practices and credibility as a whole.

The management practices at PCB resemble what is called as ’chaos management’. This style of management is often employed by organizations where flexibility and anarchy to a certain extent suits an organization’s business objectives. However, what PCB need is a structured organization and abort this ’fire fighting’ and reactive approach. This may help achieve short-term objectives but for PCB to grow, it needs to develop a long-term strategy based on a situational analysis, addressing the three W’s: Where they are now? Where they want to be? What should they do to get there?

ON MULTIPLE JOBS AND FOREIGN COMMENTATORS IN INDO-PAK SERIES: Ramiz minced no words when asked about his job as a commentator. He had, prior to accepting the job of CEO, obtained a clearance from the then Chairman of PCB. Similarly, upon assuming the position of CEO of PCB, he successfully obtained a NOC from the ICC Committee dealing with matters involving Conflict of Interests. Likewise, more recently, the patron of PCB, President Pervaiz Musharraf allowed Ramiz to continue with his commentating engagements.

Notwithstanding the legal aspect of the job, Ramiz feels that the comments made by any commentator on screen are a commentator’s personal remarks and should not be taken out of context.

He agrees that the number of Pakistani and Indian commentators during the recent Indo-Pak series were low as compared to foreign commentators. The reasons offered by the CEO were that both India and Pakistan wanted this series to be less of a tete-a-tete on and off the screen and thus the reason for foreign commentators. He assured that in all future outings there will at least three, if not more Pakistani commentators covering Pakistani encounters.

ON ELIMINATION OF ORGANIZATIONAL CRICKET: Ramiz seems to favor the elimination of organizational cricket and is determined to introduce the regional cricket, which a number of people, including Imran Khan have been suggesting for a very long time. However, he feels that unless PCB has a comprehensive plan that could replace the existing system, abolishing the present system would be disastrous.

PCB, as he says has on the drawing boards a comprehensive plan to introduce a Regional First Class Cricket program, which would include the following:

* 4-day matches

* 20/20 matches

* One-Day matches

* Inter-region matches

He feels that inclusion of 4-Day matches would go a long way in developing the cricketing skills that our players fail to develop in the present set-up of playing One-Day cricket alone.

PCB is also working on a plan where it will select 50 players from across the country that would be offered yearly contracts to play domestic cricket. Each player would receive a specified sum of contract money, in addition to match fees and daily allowance for the days he plays for the domestic circuit. The sum total that a player would earn in a year would be far greater than what most players are getting in the present set-up. Citing the example of a member of national eleven who remained unemployed for two months before being a offered a contractual employment by a bank for Rs5000 a month, "How can you expect players to give their best when they can hardly make both ends meet?

"But then we cannot just take whatever they are making without offering them with an alternative", added Ramiz.

His eyes sparkled as he told me that for the first time in the history of Pakistan domestic cricket, about 200 players each were paid Rs30, 000 per month for a period of three months during the last domestic season. It is no mean achievement by any standard and it is definitely an auspicious start that will definitely improve the standard of our first class cricket, believes Ramiz.

NATIONAL CRICKET ACADEMY AND RELATIONSHIP WITH LOCAL CRICKET ASSOCIATIONS: Development issues seem to be Ramiz’s No 1 priority. He went on and on about the development work that has been undertaken by PCB during the last two years. PCB has successfully established and made operational a National Cricket Academy and eight Regional Academies, and he is hopeful that these nurseries would soon be producing world-class cricketers.

PCB plans to engage the service of a number of ex-cricketers, including Gregg Chappell, Barry Richards, Daryl Foster, Waqar Younis and a few others who would be working as a think tank, and are expected to advice PCB on its developmental program, coaching developmental program, and a coaching manual. standards.

Ramiz feels that if somehow PCB and the local associations, basically Lahore and Karachi, can find a way of give and take, where associations give up their claim to select regional teams and if PCB were to involve them in the developmental activities, the present row between PCB and the associations could be amicably resolved. He, however, believes that certain members of the local associations, driven by their vested interests, are responsible for the present impasse.

SELECTION ISSUES: Ramiz was rather careful when asked about the inclusion of Shahid Afridi in the One-Day squad at the expense of Taufiq Umar who had proved his form in the warm-up game. He alluded that the selection committee gambled on Afridi’s past performances on placid and flat tracks. With respect to Imran Nazir’s future, he was hopeful that with a little help and guidance the flaws in Imran’s batting technique could be removed and there is every chance that he may be recalled for the national squad.

About Abdul Razzaq, Ramiz believes that Razzaq is now an integral part of Pakistan One-Day squad.

He believes that the selection committee now works independently with no outside intervention and hopefully the future decisions will reflect their objectivity and professionalism.

On the question why PCB does not have a formal mechanism in place to recognize the retiring cricketers, Ramiz looked rather exasperated. He conceded that PCB does not have a formal mechanism for a proper send-off for retiring cricketers; however, he blames the cricketers for the manner in which they announce their retirements. Notwithstanding, PCB is planning to host an official and proper reception for the recently retired Pakistani players i.e. Waqar Younis, Waseem Akram, and Saeed Anwar. In the end I wanted to ask him a rather personal question: regarding his hairstyle. But somehow that slipped my mind. The other question that I asked him he believed was serious enough to be discussed but cautioned me that it was too sensitive an issue to be printed. So we left it at that.

My parting impressions were that all is well as far as the developmental work, is concerned. However, one does get the impression that somehow strengthening of our present national team is not a top priority at the moment. Nonetheless, I wish Ramiz and the Pakistani team all the best in the coming days, weeks and months.