Aitzaz turns down PCB chairmanship

The race for Pakistan Cricket Board’s chairmanship became wide open for all aspirants on Monday as key Pakistan Peoples Party figure Aitzaz Ahsan declined the offer personally made by President Asif Ali Zardari.
Reports from President’s House say that President Zardari, who is also chief patron of the PCB, asked Ahsan to take the post of chairman at the PCB but he declined the offer.
President’s House sources said that Zardari wanted someone close to the party to hold the coveted position because cricket was a very important platform that could inevitably unite the nation and made a significant impact on the party’s image.
However, sources close to Ahsan revealed that he declined the offer citing his numerous personal, political and professional engagements.
“It’s an office of profit and would keep him away from contesting the National Assembly or the Senate elections. It’s a full-time job and he won’t be able to get fully involved in politics. And then on top of it, he runs an extremely busy law chamber that goes along with his involvement with bar councils,” the source close to Ahsan said.
The source said further: “He is a leading lawyer and a full-time politician who has a spiraling chamber and is actively involved in bar associations, so all that would get compromised if he takes the PCB chairmanship.”
Incidentally, his wife Bushra Aitzaz is the chairperson of PCB women’s wing and is actively running women’s cricket in the country.
On Monday, Aitzaz left for a tour of the US, Canada and the UK.
Former Test cricketers Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad and Majid Khan may appear very good candidates on paper, but lack the administrative experience. Candidates such as Zaka Ashraf and Ali Raza might emerge as top names out of the blue. But none of these candidates seem to posses the magic wand needed to lift Pakistan cricket, which is sadly at its lowest ebb in history right now.
Pakistan cricket needs a very firm hand at the helm and ironically missing is the name of former ICC chief Ehsan Mani — a man with ideal professional and administrative expertise. He is already held in high esteem in international cricket circles.