Majid Khan accuses PCB of mismanagement

Lahore, Jun 28 (UNI) Alleging gross financial irregularities and mismanagement by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), former Test opener Majid Khan has urged the federal government to audit PCB's accounts through the National Assembly's public accounts committee.

''The present Board had turned this institution as an employment exchange. When I was the chief executive of the PCB we had 20 to 30 employees but today this number has increased to 700 plus,'' Majid told mediapersons while addressing a crowded press conference here yesterday.

He added that there was no discipline in the Board and personal likes and dislikes had made the players more powerful than the PCB.

''Inzamam-ul-Haq refused to play the Oval Test match but wasn't sacked from the captaincy. Younis Khan refused to lead the team saying 'I don't want to become a dummy captain' and declined to play in the match against Bangladesh early this year but escaped punishment,'' Majid said.

According to Majid, the PCB's failure to impose discipline within the national squad encouraged players like Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Asif and others to continue with their wild ways.

''They have been protecting Asif and Shoaib from day one despite their antics. They appointed Shoaib Malik as captain who under ICC rules and regulation could face life ban for admitting in public that he had fixed a Twenty20 match,'' he alleged. ''The player who confessed before millions of people watching him throw a match was made captain of the team.'' ''The board did not take any action against Inzamam-ul-Haq, who decided to forfeit the Oval Test after facing ball-tampering allegations. The PCB spent millions in defending the case but Hair is back again,'' he added.

Majid said the non-technocrats in the PCB management did not know the importance of the cricketing associations which were the real resource of producing players.

''The England and Wales Cricket Board are granting one million pounds each to the counties annually to strengthen them to produce good cricketers. But here in Pakistan the non-technocrat PCB officials have centralized all the powers on the pretext that the associations are corrupt which is a funny allegation,'' he stated.

Majid said he was ready to take charge of the PCB, if offered, and to clean up the mess.

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