When Younis Khan refused to acknowledge or thank the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) during the presentation ceremony despite being prompted by Ramiz Raja, it must have sent chills down the spine of everyone at the Gaddafi Stadium.

That it sent one down the chairman’s was confirmed when he came out with the statement that he was all in favour of Younis being selected for the World Cup.

Shaharyar Khan also confirmed what I have said countless times in my columns and TV appearances. That he is de facto chairman of selectors and that the chairman of selectors is basically his subordinate. It’s been that way for years so it’s not just Shaharyar who is playing this role. He has simply inherited it.

Why do I assign this position to the chairman? Well until he approves -- note, approves -- the side it doesn’t get announced and can’t travel. Period. It takes the chairman’s signature for the ball to start rolling on the paper. PCB officials and their media men have always denied this intervention and will continue to do so. They will say it is an administrative function for the funds to be released, or that the PCB Chairman just checks that no banned or suspended player has been included, going by explanations offered in the past.

Ridiculous reasons all. There can at any time be no more than a few players from the domestic circuit that are not cleared for one reason or another; the list can be given to the selectors by the disciplinary committee or the sports medicine head in case of injury suspicion. And the budget doesn’t change if it is, say, Younis going with the team or not.

As such the fact remains that the chairman has the last say; some have more interference, some less. From what I saw in Shaharyar’s last tenure, he is less intrusive than, say, Tauqeer Zia was. When it came to excluding Younis for the ODIs against Australia, Shaharyar said he would not interfere. At the time it was taken as a ‘No’ by those who knew that Younis had had a fallout with the chairman in 2006 over captaincy after which Shaharyar had resigned. And as such he would not support him now. But that was up to conjecture, as was the news that Moin Khan had rushed to Lahore to get Shaharyar’s consent for the team to be announced for the limited overs games.

It had weight though. The team was slated to be announced in Karachi at 5pm before the semi-finals but at 4:30 the cameras had to be removed.

Moin flew to Lahore and a day later the team was announced from there with Shahrayar backing the selection.

But by publicly stating that he would like to see Younis in the World Cup squad Shaharyar has officially interfered in the selection process. He can imply what he wants by adding that the final say is up to the selectors. Simply giving his comment when he is officially the chairman is clearly interference, or at least influence, which in Pakistan means as good as interfering.

He has let the cat out of the bag by saying: "When the ODI team was announced, the selectors and other stakeholders had agreed upon Younis’ omission." Note the words "selectors and other stakeholders". Would Shaharyar please elaborate who the stakeholders are who have a say in the selection?

I believe that he has been psyched out by what Younis said -- or rather did not say -- at the presentation ceremony of the first Test. He realises that he has lost the popularity vote. And while someone who is more mentally strong (say Majid Khan who refused to accept Wasim Akram’s inclusion when at his peak because of his belief that something was not right) would have stood his ground, Shaharyar has blinked first and rushed to absolve himself of all opposition to Younis’ inclusion for the World Cup after seeing the reaction from the media and the public.

By doing that he has dumped Moin and is making him the scapegoat. Now Moin (and to some extent Waqar Younis) will be made responsible for Younis’ omission. That is a shameful thing to do. He may have inherited Moin as chief selector and manager but as long as Moin is his subordinate he should not leave him. He should learn from the ECB Chairman and Chief Executive who stood by the selectors despite the continuous flare-ups from Kevin Pietersen.

He has also shown that he has little understanding of cricket. He has shown that he has knee-jerk reaction to situations. I mean, how can he give his opinion on a technical issue when he has had little to do with cricket and is there purely as an administrator. Shaharyar would have won more respect had he chosen simply to remain calm and quiet and said that his opinion on selection is not to be shared in public due to the position he is holding. A seasoned diplomat should know the right thing to say.