Wasim Khan hopes to professionalise PCB

KARACHI: Wasim Khan, Pakistan Cricket Board’s newly-appointed managing director, believes he can bring professionalism to what is one of the most chaotic bodies in the world of cricket.

Wasim, a Birmingham-born Briton of Pakistani-origin, has opted to give up a flourishing career as a cricket administrator in England, to join hands with Ehsan Mani in his campaign to fix Pakistan cricket.

In an interview with Pakpassion.net, Wasim admitted that he is facing a tough challenge but also stressed that he was up to it.“The opportunity to get involved in Pakistan cricket was a major factor in my decision which was further helped by what’s going on in Pakistan at the moment with Imran Khan coming into power as well as the professional attitude of Ehsan Mani as chairman of the PCB. It just felt that it was a great opportunity and something that I wanted to do to contribute to and to improve things in Pakistan cricket,” said Wasim, a former first-class cricketer, who has quit as Chief Executive of Leicestershire County Cricket Club to join PCB.

Wasim said that he admires Prime Minister Imran Khan.

“I’ve been watching from afar and have admired his stance and philosophy on what he is trying to achieve for his country. I’ve always been an admirer of Imran Khan and what he has stood for in his life and it’s just great that I am getting this chance now to be part of something special in Pakistan.”

Wasim stressed that Pakistan cricket has a lot of room for improvement both on and off the field.

“There is a level of inconsistency when playing away from UAE, but I don’t think Pakistan are alone in that and I think various countries face issues when they play abroad in alien conditions. However, being consistent on the field is something that we want Pakistan to be and we would also like them to climb up that ladder of the ICC Test rankings. We are right up there in terms of Twenty20 cricket rankings, but we want to be the leaders in all three formats and that has to be an aim.

“In terms of off-the-field areas, we need to ensure that we professionalise the PCB as much as possible. As I have said before, the priorities will be about getting systems and processes right, getting the people to do the right things and getting people focused, improving our communications and making sure we are on top of things like that. In general, the idea will be to look at how we can improve 20-30% in terms of how we operate and how we do things at the PCB.”

Wasim believes that his past experience will prove beneficial for PCB.

“There are a number of elements from my past experience that will help me in my role at the PCB. To start with, I’ve been heavily involved in restructuring at Leicestershire and one of the things that I know will be a part of my role at the PCB will be looking at the processes and systems in terms of how the PCB operates.

Also, having played the game, I can bring in all that knowledge from the playing side as well. In addition, my experience from audit to risk registers, to systems and processes are some of the other strengths that would be beneficial in my role at the PCB. I have led Leicestershire at a very difficult period and we’ve made some good progress in four years.”

One of the top tasks for Wasim will be to beef up PCB’s campaign to bring international cricket back to Pakistan.

“Getting international cricket restored on Pakistan soil is a big priority. I’ve got some good relationships with cricket boards around the world and one of the key jobs working with Ehsan Mani will be to try and persuade countries to come and play in Pakistan. Clearly despite all the security measures that Pakistan has promised, there still seems to be some gaps in terms of the security which is not allowing the head of security of each of those countries to recommend they play in Pakistan.

“Along the way, what I would also like to do is to bring over to Pakistan some County teams. There is a fantastic academy in Lahore with some great facilities and perhaps we need to start slowly and bring Counties over, so they have a fantastic experience and they then go away and say it was brilliant to go and play in Pakistan. There are a number of measures that I have got in mind to discuss with Ehsan and together I’m sure we will come up with a plan of how we tackle this issue. It will be very beneficial for Pakistan if we are successful in trying to bring a level of international cricket back to the country. This country of passionate people and passionate supporters of cricket has been starved of cricket but holding some of the PSL games in Pakistan is a great start,” he said.