Let ICC take stand against Ten Sports: PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan.

Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Shaharyar Khan, during his stopover in New Delhi, talks to The Indian Express about why the BCCI must go to the ICC if they have reservations about Ten Sports being the broadcaster for the planned Pakistan-India Test series in UAE, why he believes the BCCI, part of world cricket’s Big Three, will be more of a big brother than a big bully and why perceptions about Pakistan can be wrong. Excerpts

How will you describe your visit to India? 

Jagmohan Dalmiya, the BCCI president, and I go back a long way. It was he and I, who after a long pause, revived cricketing ties in 2004. We had difficulties back then also. I remember Dalmiya saab calling me two days before the team was to arrive saying that ‘the players are ready to come but their wives are not letting them come’. I said please tell the wives that ‘we will give them and everybody else head of state security’. And they came. After the Karachi match was over, the Indian team was warmly greeted by the crowd. After two-three days the Indian players told the security people around them ‘please go home, we don’t have any security issue here’.

Dalmiya saab remembers this very well. I found Dalmiya saab in exactly the same mood this time. I told him, we had problems before but the tour happened. The BCCI is clearly committed to reviving the Pakistan-India series.

So Pakistan hosting India in UAE is a start when it comes to the two teams playing each other?

We are not insisting that India come to Pakistan because there is a problem of security. But the situation is getting better. Our army is attacking these terrorists. I find it very difficult to understand how we can be criticised for being soft on terrorists when over 50,000 Pakistanis have died as a result of terrorism. Over 5,000 of our army personnel have been killed because of terrorism in North Waziristan and South Waziristan. We are totally against terrorism. I hope within two-three years teams will start playing against us at home. Zimbabwe is coming in a week — the first time a full-member Test side is touring Pakistan since the attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in 2009.

You have tried to reach out to Asian countries? 

Both Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have told me that once other teams start touring Pakistan, we will follow. I have invited ‘A’ teams, Under-19 teams, school-boy teams and women’s teams to tour Pakistan. It is the first step towards national teams touring Pakistan.

Being a former diplomat, you know how important the Indian government’s stand can be to resumption of ties. ]We await the green signal from the Indian government. The Indian cricket board is ready to come. But rightly they say they had signed the MoU (five series in eight years) when the previous government (Congress) was in power. They are going to approach this government, they might have even done so already. It is my belief that sports and politics should be kept apart. Yesterday, a Member of Parliament in India said cricket ties should not resume. I want to tell this gentleman to go to the public and ask them if they want to see the two teams playing. There will be lakhs of people who would like to see this contest happening.

Have you reached out to the political establishment in India?

I have been trying to but they have been very busy with Parliament. But before I leave for Pakistan tomorrow afternoon, I hope to meet some of them. If not I can always come back to Delhi for a day or two. I will keep working towards getting international teams to tour Pakistan. I have invited Mr N Srinivasan (ICC chairman) and Jagmohan Dalmiya to come to watch Zimbabwe playing Pakistan in Pakistan and see the security situation and see the people’s love for cricket. I have invited all ICC members to send their chairman or their representatives to Pakistan so they can have a first-hand experience.

The issue of the broadcaster (Ten Sports) seems a bigger problem than the politics of the day?

We knew that the BCCI had reservations about Ten Sports being given the contract. I am telling you frankly, we did not favour Ten Sports. We, in fact, favoured an Indian broadcaster getting the rights. The problem was that Indian broadcasters were not keen to come. Of two major broadcasters, one did come for the bidding. But when the bidding took place, they were well short of the bid made by Ten Sports. We tried our best to get other companies to bid with them or bid as much as them (Ten Sports) but they didn’t come forward. So our hands are tied.

So you are in a tight corner right now? 

I had told the BCCI, ‘I know you have reservations about Ten Sports’. But the other bidder fell $60 million short. Not four or five million, but 60 million dollars.

Ten Sports owns broadcasting rights in South Africa, Sri Lanka and West Indies. So why only punish Pakistan. Logically, you must cancel all tours with all countries which have Ten Sports as their broadcaster. We had told the BCCI to give us in writing, in advance, the reservations they have about Ten Sports. We told BCCI, if they write to us then we will ensure they (Ten Sports) don’t take part in the tender process. We will tell them ‘sorry you are not acceptable to the other side’. But they wouldn’t send us a letter.

With the problems seeming as complex as they are do you see a way out?

Yes, there is. If the BCCI does not want to give us in writing about the issues they have with Ten Sports, then they must go to the ICC and tell them about the new league they (Essel Group) are planning to start and tell the ICC that it will be against the IPL and that will be against the ICC also. On our part, we are against any other league, other than the IPL. If ICC feels they are starting a new league, then the ICC has every right to knock them out. Let the ICC take a stand against Ten Sports.

Can you write to the ICC saying, the BCCI is not agreeing to tour because of the broadcaster and we are stuck in a situation?

The ICC will have to weigh up the legal implications. My information is that the head of Essel Group (which owns stake in Ten Sports) has been meeting ICC officials and assuring them that they are not starting any league. So it makes it legally complicated to knock out Ten Sports or the Essel Group.

Are you pained by the fact that a player like Umar Akmal has not played a Test match at home?

We have many talented players and Umar Akmal is one of them. You have to judge a guy’s cricket skills but you have to judge his temperament as well. Some of our boys are very talented but their temperaments are not yet developed. Not playing a Test match at home is a factor when it comes to temperament because there is nothing like playing in front of your own crowd.

World cricket has changed since your first stint (2003-06) with the emergence of the Big-Three — India, Australia and England. How do you view this scenario?

We accept it but reluctantly. My own feeling is that the previous scenario didn’t do justice to India’s financial contribution. But I think that could have been addressed without actually changing the constitution and making it appear to be undemocratic. Even earlier, India and Australia and to an extent England were the heavyweights and got whatever they wanted. Now it is formal.

Is India a big brother or a big bully?

We will see if India is a big brother or a big bully. I hope it won’t be a big bully. But it is unlikely to happen. Not with people like Jagmohan Dalmiya at the helm of affairs. I can recall so many incidents that make me believe that India won’t be the big bully.

How important is IPL to world cricket and how do people in Pakistan view the IPL? 

I think we are missing out. I think the public would like to see some of our players playing in the IPL. This is why this series (Pakistan-India) is so important because it can open doors for players like Shahid Afridi to play in the IPL. At the same time, I feel cricket must move forward in all three formats. Even players earning millions in the IPL value Test cricket.

How difficult is it to be in-charge of Pakistan cricket? 

I am a straightforward guy. I find all the intrigue difficult to handle. But as long as you are sincere and do what you think is right, you can handle it. The difference is that until I was elected chairman this time, all Pakistan cricket heads were nominated. Even I was nominated the last time. This time we have a constitution. I am not the baadshah of cricket now. I was back then and I could do what I liked. But now I have to follow the constitution.

What is the biggest cricket crisis you have faced?

I think the biggest crisis was when I was manager during the India tour of 1999. It was the incident involving Sachin Tendulkar’s run-out (collided with Shoaib Akhtar). Everything was going up in flames. I was getting messages from my Indian friends, who said that we must call Tendulkar back. I think we did the right thing, because we said whatever the law says we will follow. We said let the umpires decide. This is where Jaggu (Jagmohan Dalmiya) played a huge role. He went around the whole ground with Sachin and asked people to calm down. He then made sure the ground was emptied the next day.

One perception about Pakistan you want to remove…

There is a perception, and a fair one, that we are inconsistent. One day we play well and the next way we don’t. There are times when we fail to play to our potential and it is here that I think that temperament is important. That is why Misbah-ul-Haq is so important and Inzamam-ul-Haq was so important. There are many critics who say Misbah is too defensive and does not innovate and there are calls to put a younger man in charge. But I am a great admirer of Misbah and Inzy also because they are calm under pressure. This is the kind of leadership Pakistan requires.

What about a misconception of Pakistan as a country? 

People think we are going towards extremism. But it is not the case. I mean, contrast it with countries where women are not allowed to drive. You walk at 7.30 am in Pakistan and you will see that 90 per cent of cars are driven by mothers taking their children to school. Yet people only talk about the hijabs. That is why I want people-to-people contact. I think people’s perceptions of Pakistan are wrong.