CRACKS IN THE FOUNDATION: Former PCB official points to Imran Khan’s reforms as catalyst for Pakistan’s cricket decline
The state of Pakistan cricket has long been a subject of heated debate, but a scathing critique from a high-ranking former official has reignited the conversation regarding the roots of the national team’s recent struggles. Haroon Rasheed, who previously served as the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) chief selector, head coach, and head of high performance, has pointedly blamed the sweeping domestic-structure overhaul implemented during the tenure of former Prime Minister Imran Khan for the current downward trajectory of the sport in the country.
In a candid appearance on the ‘Smash It’ sports podcast, Rasheed suggested that the radical shift away from a time-tested, department-backed system to a centralized, provincial-only model was a catastrophic error in judgment that has hollowed out the talent pool of the nation.
A Vision Rejected: The Hybrid Model That Could Have Been
The controversy dates back to 2018, following the election victory of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party. As part of a task force assigned to modernize the nation’s domestic cricket, Rasheed and his colleagues were tasked with presenting a roadmap for the future. Recognizing the cultural and financial significance of departmental teams—which had historically provided stability and employment for thousands of cricketers—the task force proposed a compromise: a “hybrid model.”
“I was part of the cricket board and task force and I remember when we met with Imran we submitted a hybrid domestic cricket model,” Rasheed revealed. “We told Imran that the hybrid model was best for our cricket. While we had reduced teams to eight, we kept the participation of departmental teams in domestic cricket.”
According to Rasheed, the proposal was not merely amended but met with immediate, blunt rejection by the former World Cup-winning captain. Imran Khan, whose vision for the country’s sports was heavily influenced by the Australian model of elite, streamlined teams, pushed for a much more aggressive consolidation.
“Imran, in his short meeting with us, rejected the hybrid model and said he didn’t want eight teams; he wanted a maximum of five to six in the domestic structure,” Rasheed recalled. Despite the board’s warnings that a sudden, radical transition would be detrimental to the ecosystem, the pressure from the Prime Minister’s office proved insurmountable. “We told him it would be better to gradually switch to a new domestic structure, but eventually you have to listen to the Prime Minister.”
The Cost of Consolidation
Following those directives, the Pakistan domestic landscape underwent a seismic shift. The traditional setup, which had supported between 10 and 16 teams, was slashed to five provincial sides. Departmental cricket, once the backbone of the domestic game and a vital source of income for domestic professionals, was systematically dismantled.
Rasheed maintains that while the Prime Minister’s intentions may have been rooted in a desire to modernize the game, the result was a loss of competitive depth. “He might have meant well, but it didn’t work out for Pakistan cricket,” Rasheed noted. “We changed the domestic structure, making it provincial cricket and leaving out departments, but I personally feel it was a wrong decision, and it led to a downslide in our cricket standards.”
By narrowing the funnel of domestic opportunities, the PCB effectively forced hundreds of players out of the professional game, reducing the number of competitive matches and, ultimately, the quality of talent filtering up to the national side.
Learning from the Neighbors: The India Comparison
A central theme of Rasheed’s argument is the comparative success of India’s domestic structure. While critics often point to the lucrative Indian Premier League (IPL) as the primary engine of India’s cricket success, Rasheed argues that this ignores the foundational strength of India’s multi-tiered domestic calendar.
“People talk about the IPL but forget that in India they still have the Ranji Trophy, Duleep Trophy, Mushtaq Ali Trophy, and Vijay Hazare Trophy,” he stated. “Their state-level associations are independent and have their own regular domestic events at the club level.”
For Rasheed, the lesson for Pakistan is clear: success cannot be manufactured by centralizing power within the PCB. He advocates for a reversal of the current administrative trajectory, calling for the decentralization of cricket governance.
“In Pakistan now, all power is with the PCB,” Rasheed argued. “It needs to decentralize power and give more independence to regional associations and departments, as was the case in the past. We need to build depth, not just efficiency.”
The Path Forward
As Pakistan cricket continues to face scrutiny following lackluster performances and shifting squad selections, Rasheed’s comments serve as a sobering reminder of how political interference in sports administration can have long-lasting consequences.
Whether the PCB will heed these calls for a structural reversal remains to be seen. However, the internal clamor from former players and administrators suggests that the appetite for reform—specifically a return to a more inclusive, diverse domestic structure—is growing. For a nation that prides itself on its rich cricketing history, the path to reclaiming its status among the world’s elite may require acknowledging the mistakes of the past and moving toward a more decentralized, grassroots-focused future.
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