What next? PCB committee probing World T20 debacle submits report to PM Nawaz Sharif

Karachi: PCB’s fact-finding committee, which is probing into the reasons for Pakistan’s poor show in the ICC World Twenty20 and Asia Cup, has submitted its report to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Sharif is Patron in Chief of Pakistan Cricket Board. “The PCB is now waiting for further instructions from the Prime Minister’s secretariat which now is also holding its own independent inquiry into the cricket affairs,” a well-informed source in the PCB told PTI on Sunday. [caption id=“attachment_2710302” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Shoaib Mailik during the ICC World T20. Getty[/caption] Federal interior minister Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan said on Saturday the government was not happy with the way the confidential reports of head coach Waqar Younis and manager Intikhab Alam were leaked out to the media. The leakage highlighted the problems in the team. Originally the PCB planned to announce the sacking of Waqar and chief selector Haroon Rasheed on Monday based on the recommendations of the fact-finding committee, but the source said these announcements could be delayed for a few days. The source confirmed that the PCB top officials had also been told to refrain from any statements in the media until further instructions. “It is because of the government’s involvement now that PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan has also put on hold his move to tender his resignation which he had planned to announce last Friday. “It was only after he received the government’s stance that Khan than told the media his resignation rumours were unfounded,” the source said. Khan was also said to be upset over the leakage of the reports. The source said that Waqar and Shahid Afridi, who stepped down from T20 captaincy on Sunday, had also got through their views and grievances to the government through their influential contacts. “Waqar in particular is not willing to go out without a fight because he is furious over the leakage of his confidential report to the fact-finding committee and suspects Najam Sethi for this,” the source said. “Waqar knew from the outset that he was going to be made a scapegoat for the team’s recent poor performances but when his report was leaked just two days after he gave it to Khan, he realised the board was playing games with him,” a source said. “Waqar has used his friendship with Imran Khan and some other top ministers and members of the ruling PML N party to convey his point of view to the prime minister,” the source said. PTI