Shahryar Khan Gets Nod From Prime Minister to Stay on as Pakistan Board Chief

Shahryar Khan, the embattled chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has got the nod from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to continue in his present position after speculations that he might step down in August on completing two years in office.

A well-informed source told PTI that Shahryar, who is in London these days on his summer vacation, had spoken to the Prime Minister who is also in London for his medical treatment.

"He has now been told by the patron in chief of the PCB that he should continue working and not step down in August as he had planned earlier," the source disclosed.

Shahryar, 82, had himself indicated in an interview to PTI a month ago that he might step down after completing two years tenure as PCB chairman in August.

His main grouse was that unlike other cricket playing nations, in Pakistan, whenever the team performed badly, the media and former players always turned on the board officials and demanded their sacking.

But the source said the scenario had changed now and even Shahryar had agreed to carry on working after a detailed discussion with the premier on cricket affairs.

The PCB has carried out a number of reforms since the national team's poor performances in the Asia Cup and World T20 in India.

The reforms have included the appointments of Mickey Arthur as head coach of the national team, Inzamam-ul-Haq as chief selector and Mudassar Nazar as head of academies. Mudassar on Thursday visited Karachi to inspect the work going on at the regional cricket academy in the city and announced it would start functioning again by August 1.

The source said any issues between Shahryar and his predecessor Najam Sethi, who is now heading the executive committee in the board had also been sorted out and the latter had also encouraged Khan to continue working as chairman.

The source said although the two heavyweights at times didn't agree on some issues but generally were comfortable working together in the board.

Shahryar will also be representing Pakistan in the annual International Cricket Council (ICC) board meetings from June 27th and is planning to ask the world body to set up a special fund to help Pakistan cricket as no international teams have toured the country since 2009.