Failure to revive ties with India is my biggest regret, says outgoing PCB chief
Outgoing chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) Shaharyar Khan has admitted that the failure to revive bilateral cricket ties with India will remain the biggest regret and failure of his three-year tenure.
“If you ask me definitely I wanted to see Pakistan and India bilateral cricket restored. But it didn’t happen this time despite our best efforts,” he said on Sunday.
Shaharyar, a career diplomat who remained High Commissioner in India, said in his last tenure (2003-2006) he had managed to restore bilateral ties with India in 2004 and the visit of the Indian team to Pakistan was a massive success for cricket. “In my last tenure we had three bilateral series with India and it was a big source of satisfaction for me,” he said.
Shaharyar, who has technically stepped down as chairman of the PCB and August 9 will be his last day in office, said unfortunately this time there was no cooperation from the Indian board (BCCI) at all.
He admitted that the heightened political and diplomatic tensions between the two countries and incidents on the LoC didn’t help matters.
“I did my best this time as well because it is very important for India and Pakistan to play each other. The financial benefits of it are huge for both boards,” Shaharyar said.
“I was even accused of literally begging with India to play a bilateral series. But I was only trying to convince the Indian board to fulfil commitments they made in the MoU they signed with us in 2014.”
Shaharyar said cricket could play a big role in restoring some normalcy in relations between the two countries.
“In the past also series have been held in not very good conditions. When we went there in 1999 and I was the manager and there were threats and all but in the end everything panned out well,” he said.