Imran bats for cricketers as PCB administrators
Revamp of the board with former players likely
With Imran Khan, the cricketer-turned-politician, poised to become the new Prime Minister of Pakistan, there is a likelihood of a major shake-up in the administration of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
Top positions in the PCB have always been occupied by nominees of the ruling party. Should that trend continue, then new faces will be seen leading the PCB soon.
According to information from Pakistan, Najam Sethi may have to step down as PCB chairman.
The UAE is scheduled to host many PCB events in the coming months, and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) officials have had discussions about them with the current PCB administrators. If Imran brings about major changes, all plans for the scheduled activities here may have to be discussed again.
The PCB will host the next edition of the Pakistan Super League (PSL) during February-March in the UAE. Pakistan will also be staging their international bilateral series against Australia and New Zealand in the coming winter here.
Imran, in an interview to Gulf News, after turning politician, had once remarked: “In Pakistan there are naturally talented players in abundance. We have more talent than any other country in the world, but we need to revamp our domestic cricket structure.” The Pakistan domestic season is scheduled to start from September 1 this year.
It is likely that Imran may open doors for former cricketers to become PCB administrators, although Sethi has done some great work in bringing international cricket back to Pakistan and transforming the PSL into a huge success.
Many cricketers’ names are being talked about as the next PCB chairman. Former captain and legendary pacer Wasim Akram, who is a close confidant of Imran, is among the front runners for this post. In fact, it was even rumoured that Akram may join politics to back Imran, which he later denied to Gulf News stating: “I do support Imran bhai (brother) but I haven’t joined any political party.”
Stay away
Akram has continued to keep away from politics but supports Imran in all his activities. Last April, Akram even attended Imran’s Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital and Research Centre launch in Australia, but whether he would be keen to head the PCB remains to be seen.
Former Pakistan captain Rameez
The UAE is scheduled to host many PCB events in the coming months, and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) officials have had discussions about them with the current PCB administrators.
Raja, who was once the chief executive of the PCB, is also among the forerunners. Many former cricketers have met Imran following his election triumph, but it is said that those meetings were only to congratulate him.
It is also likely that former ICC president Ehsan Mani be considered for the chairman’s post since Imran is likely to look for a person with administrative skills.
It is also likely that Imran may request former captains Zaheer Abbas and Javed Miandad to play a part in PCB’s administration. Former leg spinner Abdul Qadir and all rounder Salim Altaf may also be ushered into PCB’s activities.
Many feel that Imran will likely play a big role in lifting the overall standard of sports in the country and may even encourage former players to run the Pakistan Hockey Federation.
In December 2006, an 18-year-old Virat Kohli was playing a Ranji Trophy match for Delhi. His team were in trouble at 105 for four against Karnataka and facing the follow-on the next day. Kohli was 40 not out at the close. That night, Kohli’s father died, aged just 54, from a stroke.
Rajkumar Sharma, Kohli’s coach from the age of nine, was away in Sydney and received a call from his tearful young protege, breaking the news.
“He called me, crying, saying, ‘My father is no more’,” Rajkumar tells The Daily Telegraph .“I was shocked because he had become a dear friend of mine. He asked, ‘What should I do? I am batting on 40-odd and Delhi are in big trouble. I want to bat.’ So I encouraged him to play. I said, this is the time to show your character. And he did.”
To the astonishment of his teammates, Kohli arrived at 7.30am at the start of the third day and declared himself ready to play. He went on to score 90, and Delhi saved the game.
“It was very tough for a young kid whose father’s body was lying in the family home and he had gone to play a cricket match. That shows how committed he was to cricket and his team. Virat matured very early because of his father’s death. I was always there for him, but he started taking his own responsibility and became mature from that time onwards.” ‘He was a ferocious competitor’ If Kohli’s reaction to his father’s death indicated an almost preternatural ability to compartmentalise — a trait which has served him well as he has attempted to cope with the pressure of captaining India and of being that country’s biggest sporting superstar — it was not actually the start of his remarkable sporting journey.
That began on May 30 1998, the day Rajkumar opened his West Delhi Cricket Academy. One of the first through the doors was the nine-year-old Virat, accompanied by his father and brother. Kohli would cycle the three miles from his family home with his kitbag on the handlebars. And even now, nearly 20 years later, Rajkumar can catch glimpses of the little boy when he is batting for India.
“He immediately looked different from the others,” says Rajkumar. “He had a lot of power for his age. He had that ambition to play with the bigger boys and not in his age group. He always used to say, ‘Let me play with the elders’. Because in his age group, nobody could get him out. He had a lot of selfbelief from the beginning.
“He was strong as a fielder, also. He used to throw the ball from the deep to the wicketkeeper, which was not common at that age. He had a lot of physical strength.
“The best thing about him was he was never scared of any fast bowler — or any bowler for that matter. Even as a 14-yearold kid, facing bowlers who had played first-class cricket. He used to take them on.
“He has added a few changes for different conditions, but the style of his batting has remained the same since the beginning.
“As a young boy, the best strength in him was his cover drive — and he used to hit it very hard. He was a good driver of the ball, but played a lot of flick shots that I felt he should not play in the early part of his innings. Lots of times I had to tell him not to play that shot.
Mental strength
“But he worked very hard to master that stroke, and now it is his bread-and-butter shot.”
The West Delhi Academy now has 800 boys on its books travelling from all over India to work with Rajkumar. It is based at four sites around the city. But the main centre is in West Delhi, an area where people have to jostle for space and fight to get ahead.
Six Test cricketers have hailed from West Delhi in recent years: Virender Sehwag, Kohli, Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan, Ishant Sharma and Amit Mishra. Of those, only Gambhir had the safety net of family money.
“Even as a junior cricketer Virat was a ferocious competitor,” says Vijay Lokapally, now the deputy editor of The Hindu newspaper and Kohli’s unofficial biographer, but back then a regular attendee at Rajkumar’s academy, where he would watch the young Kohli.
“He would take defeat to his heart and be upset with any loss. I remember he would wait for his turn to bat and if the target was short, he would like to go and open. Because his worry was that if he was slotted at four, he might not get an opportunity to bat. It is not that he did not have his flaws — he did, and he had some temperamental issues initially. But look how he has got over them and shaped his career. Today his mental strength is the best in the world. He sets standards for the whole country.’