Ringside View: Change of guard at the PCB

Brig Munawar Ahmed Rana was neither a cricketer nor a sports or cricket management guru. He was not even a commentator. But in his own quiet manner, this PCB Director (another title for CEO) over the past year and a half - a period not without interest for a variety of reasons - did make a difference.

Chishty Mujahid, veteran radio and television commentator with three decades plus of interest in the game, especially Pakistan cricket, replaced Brig Munawar the other day.

Brig Munawar A Rana Photo © CricInfo

Unlike his boss, Lt Gen Tauqir Zia, Munawar was not flamboyant. His self-effacing manners were a decent camouflage for the steel behind, and those who tested his patience beyond its extended threshold would vouch for the sting. He was a really good administrator, overseeing the systematization of the PCB with diligence and efficiency.

More than anything, it was his uncanny knack of cutting though the maze and getting to the core of an issue which endeared him to his peers in the ICC and ACC boardrooms. The rapport he quickly developed with officials of other Boards was of critical importance in sorting out some otherwise messy affairs without rancour or controversy.

Without the least belligerence or righteous chest-thumping, without ever uttering the 'R' word, he was successful in gaining the sympathy of the ICC on the Shoaib Akhtar issue. And the problem seems to have disappeared. The Black Caps tour of Pakistan, which eventually had to be aborted after the May 8 bomb blast, had as much to do with his powers of persuasion as the ACC threat that all Asian nations would boycott countries which refuse to honour commitments with its members.

Now he is gone, moving to that most beleaguered of Pakistani organisations these days, the National Reconstruction Bureau. He was called over to NRB, and being an officer and a gentleman, it was not his lot to reason why. Whether his clear-headed, rational thinking would help NRB as much as it did cricket is anybody's guess, but it is surely cricket's loss. Enter the dapper commentator.

Chishty Mujahid, the dapper cricket commentator with a good humour, who has loads of corporate experience at the top to boot, has replaced Rana. Commentating on the game is one thing, managing it quite another, especially when it involves dealing with an overdose of mavericks. In a way, Chishty has crossed to the other side of the fence. There is much difference between merely talking and actually doing. This is not a reflection on Chishty's ability, but an acknowledgment of his courage. It takes guts to do something new, more so when your reputation is at stake and you are no spring chicken.

But Chishty has some advantages. He has been involved with the game for well-nigh three decades behind the microphone, and his interest dates back well beyond that. He knows his cricket, and the PCB headquarters, the Gaddafi Stadium. He will need all his resourcefulness to lead Pakistan cricket in these difficult times when no top-flight outfit wants to visit Pakistan. Good luck to him - he is sure to need it.