Keep The Ship Steady And Don’t Compromise On Integrity: Shaharyar Khan’s Advice To His Successor
Aug 6, 2017 at 1:53 PM
The Story
Shaharyar Khan’s three-year tenure as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Chairman ceased to be active on August 4. The 83-year-old had already clarified that he won’t take another term after the culmination of his existing tenure making way for the Najam Sethi to become his successor.
The customary election for the post of chairman will be held on August 9
Shaharyar Khan’s tenure, which started on a controversial note, witnessed some late successes which included Pakistan cricket team’s ICC Champions Trophy 2017 title in June 2017 and the rise to the top rankings in Test rankings under Misbah-ul-Haq’s captaincy.
Words of advice to Najam Sethi
The outgoing chairman has advised Sethi to keep the PCB moving ahead and stay away from letting tainted people take control to keep the integrity intact.
“Though no name for the next chairman has been announced as yet, I would like to advise my successor to keep the ship steady and not comprise on integrity at any cost. People will criticise you over the selection and so many other things, but take every decision based on integrity and not pick any tainted person,” speaking to Dawn in an exclusive interview on Saturday.
He also revealed the tough measures he took to keep the balance of respect and business in check.
“I sacked a few such people working in different departments at the PCB, including in the marketing division, who compromised on integrity and they are obviously angry with me. But money is not bigger than integrity and even if you earn less by keeping your integrity intact, it will surely pay you later,” said Shaharyar.
Khan has witnessed a fair of controversies during his last tenure and spoke from his experience admitting the faults as well successes during the period.
“The biggest failure for me is to not restore the bilateral series between Pakistan and India. In my last tenure [2004-2006], I had succeeded in restoring it and we played thrice with our neighbours,” he recalled.
His positive attempts to persuade BCCI to revive cricketing ties marred by political situations drew a lot of criticism for him.
“I did my best this time too and also faced a lot of criticism for it as critics termed it ‘begging’. But it was not begging, we were just trying to force the BCCI to fulfil the commitment it had made with us through the MoUs signed with Najam Sethi in 2014.”
He also looked back to the time when he had successfully bridged the gap between the two cricketing teams.
“In my last tenure, I still remember how friendly the cricketers of both the countries were. The Indian cricketers were quite happy over visiting Pakistan and players like (Rahul) Dravid, (Javagal) Srinath, (Anil) Kumble and Harbhajan Singh had made good friends with many Pakistan players,” he said.