Restoration of 2014 PCB constitution on the cards

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Government has decided in principle to restore the 2014 Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) constitution in wake of the recent decision by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif to revive departmental sports in the country.

A well-informed source within the Ministry of Inter-Provincial Coordination (IPC) has confirmed to The News that it has received instructions from the highest authority to restore the 2014 PCB Constitution and move the required summary.

“ The new PCB constitution that was finalised and passed during the previous regime does have any role for the departmental cricket. Since the PM has recently announced the restoration of departmental sports in the country, the requirement is to make necessary changes in the existing constitution. We have considered different options and found it would be more realistic to revive the 2014 PCB constitution in letter and spirit rather than changing some clauses of the new constitution.

There are a few more issues that needed to be addressed, hence the better option is to restore the 2014 PCB Constitution rather than making any changes to the existing one.

This new constitution is far away from reality and required a revisit. But the best option is to restore the previous constitution that allows departmental and regional competitions hence more exposure for budding players,” informed sources in the Ministry of IPC when approached said. Secretary IPC Ahmad Hanif Orakzai during the IPC Standing Committee meeting the other day had hinted at considering such an option. “We have decided to revisit the existing PCB constitution,” he said during the meeting.

Following further investigation, The News has learned that the option of reviving the 2014 PCB Constitution is on the cards. “ We could make changes in the existing constitution to accommodate departments but we want to make sure that the PCB should be run by stakeholders rather than those having no background in cricket.

The PCB Governing Board should consist of representatives from regions and departments rather than those who have no stakes at the grassroots level or have no concern with the promotion of cricket. We can adjust some of the clauses pertaining to the Pakistan Super League (PSL) in the 2014 constitution. Realistically speaking we feel that the 2014 PCB constitution is more suited to Pakistan’s ground realities,” a source confirmed.

The Ministry also considered other options including making necessary changes in the existing PCB constitution to revive departments and regions and broaden the base of cricket by allowing more teams to figure in domestic events rather than confining it to six teams (first-class cricket).