Exclusive interview/Najam Sethi, chairman, Pakistan Cricket Board
For eight long years, Pakistan cricket has lived in exile, as all of Pakistan’s ‘home’ games were played in the UAE. Back home, stadiums fell into disrepair and domestic cricket suffered. Even Pakistan’s glitzy Twenty20 league was played abroad. But, 2017 changed some of this.
In March, the Pakistan Cricket Board successfully held the final of the Pakistan Super League in Lahore. After all security fears were addressed, the PCB hosted the Independence Cup—three Twenty 20 matches between Pakistan and an ICC World XI side. It was a major victory for the PCB and the ICC.
When Pakistan beat India in the final of the ICC Champions Trophy this year, the team returned home to a ticker-tape parade through Lahore— Pakistan had not celebrated a cricket win like this in a long time.
It came full circle when the Sri Lankan team arrived in Lahore for a Twenty20 international. It was only the second bilateral match to be played in Pakistan since the terror attack on the Sri Lankan team bus in March 2009. The PCB is now aiming for three PSL matches to be played at home next season.
In an exclusive interview with THE WEEK, PCB chairman Najam Sethi spoke about the need to resume bilateral ties with India ahead of the proposed ICC Test Championship and ODI league in 2019. Even though the PCB has taken the legal recourse to the disputed MOU with the BCCI, India’s new proposed Future Tours Programs schedule does not include a series with Pakistan. This led to a huge outcry from its neighbours. Excerpts from the interview:
How difficult was it to get international cricket back to Pakistan?
It was very tough. Whenever we raised the issue, the question before us was that when we play our own domestic league abroad, why should international teams come home?
This story is from the December 31, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the December 31, 2017 edition of THE WEEK.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The female act
The 19th edition of the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival was of the women and by the women
A SHOT OF ARCHER
An excerpt from the prologue of An Eye for an Eye
MASTER OF MAKE-BELIEVE
50 years. after his first book, Jeffrey*Archer refuses to put down his'felt-tip Pilot pen
Smart and sassy Passi
Pop culture works according to its own unpredictable, crazy logic. An unlikely, overnight celebrity has become the talk of India. Everyone, especially on social media, is discussing, dissing, hissing and mimicking just one person—Shalini Passi.
Energy transition and AI are reshaping shipping
PORTS AND ALLIED infrastructure development are at the heart of India's ambitions to become a maritime heavyweight.
MADE FOR EACH OTHER
Trump’s preferred transactional approach to foreign policy meshes well with Modi’s bent towards strategic autonomy
DOOM AND GLOOM
Democrats’ message came across as vague, preachy and hopelessly removed from reality. And voters believed Trump’s depiction of illegal immigrants as a source of their economic woes
WOES TO WOWS
The fundamental reason behind Trump’s success was his ability to convert average Americans’ feelings of grievance into votes for him
POWER HOUSE
Trump International Hotel was the only place outside the White House where Trump ever dined during his four years as president
DON 2.0
Trump returns to presidency stronger than before, but just as unpredictable
