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Calcutta: Yet another suicide bombing in Pakistan, on Thursday afternoon, has thrown an even bigger question mark over the hosting of next month’s Champions Trophy there.
The International Cricket Council (ICC), though, seems to be in a state of total inaction.
Apparently, it would like the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) — without a chairman since Dr Nasim Ashraf resigned earlier in the week — to make the first move by saying it’s no longer confident of staging the September 12-28 tournament.
“The PCB was oozing confidence till a few weeks ago, but we don’t really know where things stand after the recent developments,” a top source told The Telegraph.
He was referring to Pervez Musharraf stepping down as the country’s President and the decision of Dr Ashraf, a Musharraf appointee, to step down too.
The President is the PCB’s patron and hand picks its chairman, a post which is sought after by most and has been held, among others, by generals and diplomats.
“Things are definitely fluid and we’re waiting to see what happens next,” the top source added.
It’s not the first time, of course, that the ICC has reduced itself to a laughing stock. Indeed, regularly scheduling teleconferences is hardly a sign of good governance.
Quite a few teams have consistently had strong reservations on the safety bit in Pakistan and the ICC’s chief executive, Haroon Lorgat, has been honest in admitting that “on issues of security, you can’t have any guarantees.”
He said so in Colombo, after a teleconference featuring the Executive Board, less than a month ago.
Sri Lanka is the alternative venue but, somehow, nobody is quite seeing it as a host. Perhaps, that could have something to do with Sri Lanka Cricket being headed by the feisty Arjuna Ranatunga, who isn’t quite India’s favourite.
Why?
Because the 1996 World Cup-winning captain hasn’t exactly been singing paeans to the Indian Premier League.
Getting back to Pakistan, sources in Lahore and Karachi have indicated that former player, selector and administrator Ijaz Butt is the hot favourite to succeed Dr Ashraf.
Butt’s brother-in-law, Ahmed Mukhtar, is a powerful minister in the federal government and that’s bound to count.
There’s also talk that the job could go to the dapper Arif Ali Khan Abbasi, the PCB’s first chief executive, but he doesn’t have a brother-in-law with 24x7 access to those running the country.
Then, some others have suggested that acting President Mohammedmian Soomro could request Dr Ashraf to continue till the end of the Champions Trophy.
That, however, is unlikely to happen and the resignation will be accepted.
Late on Thursday, it was learnt that a move by some within the government to suspend the PCB’s constitution, and have an ad hoc body in place, had been shelved.
Incidentally, if Butt does become the next chairman, it’s to be seen whether chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed, for one, would continue.
Ahmed and his colleagues, by the way, are paid selectors.
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