Cancellation would have provoked sanctions - Shaharyar

Shaharyar Khan, the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), has said at a hearing of the Senate Standing Committee on Sports and Culture that canceling England's upcoming tour to Pakistan would have left the PCB facing crippling financial losses.

England's decision to not play a Test match in Karachi caused widespread uproar in Pakistan, leading to calls from some like Javed Miandad to cancel the tour altogether. The hearing was convened on the request of three senators to question board officials on England's decision.

According to the Karachi-based daily, The News, Shaharyar told senators that any cancellation would have incurred losses of approximately US $10 million to the PCB as well as potentially endangering Pakistan's future as a cricket destination.

Referring to a possibility of sanctions from the International Cricket Council (ICC) in such a scenario, Shaharyar argued that if Pakistan had cancelled the tour due to England's refusal to play a Test in Karachi, England could have claimed compensation through the ICC. "If a touring team has genuine concerns about the security of their players in some particular country or city and are guided by government directives, then it's the host country which faces problems and sanctions if it calls off the tour," he explained.

He did, however, assert that the board had done everything possible to convince England to play a Test in Karachi, quashing criticism that the board had acquiesced too quickly to the England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) demands. The ECB's decision to not play was based on the assessments of a security team that visited Karachi as well as travel advice from the British government, which suggested that Karachi and Peshawar should be avoided as venues.

A host of other issues were also raised at the meeting. Senator Enver Baig, a persistent critic of the board, grilled the chairman on the purpose of his prolonged summer stay in England, at a time when the Karachi saga was playing itself out. Even the exclusion of captain Inzamam-ul-Haq from the World XI squads to take on Australia in October's Super Series was brought up, both parties agreeing that the matter must be taken up with the ICC.

The committee has held regular meetings with PCB officials since June last year, when they began a probe into the country's cricketing affairs. At the time, ostensibly, they were looking into reasons for the home series defeat to India and financial irregularities within the board, but since then there has been a growing suspicion among some that the meetings are little more than a platform for pursuing personal vendettas between some of the senators and the chairman.

Often the meetings have been tense and this time, according to a source quoted by The News, was no different: "There were occasions in the hearing when it was obvious that there was more than cricket involved in the arguments that went on between Senator Baig and the Board officials."