PCB Chairman Nasim Ashraf resigns after Musharraf’s resignation.                 
We always knew that there has been a strong nexus between politics and cricket, but here comes a strange moral angle to the two with Nasim Ashraf’s resignation.

Ashraf stepped down as the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman no more than a few hours after Pervez Musharraf resigned as president of the country. Ashraf was one of Musharraf’s closest allies, and was appointed by the president himself in October 2006 after the Pakistan team forfeited the fourth test against England at The Oval, on account of unfair allegations by the umpires of ball tampering. His allotment came soon after the resignation of the former chairman Shaharyar Khan.

Ashraf had resigned once earlier too, after Pakistan’s poor performance and unceremonious exit from the World cup last year. Musharraf however, requested him to stay on. However now, with Musarraf’s resignation, Ashraf considered it a moral obligation to step down too, although he agreed to continue till a new chairman is appointed.

This time Ashraf’s resignation comes at a time when preparations for the upcoming Champions Trophy are in full swing. While on one hand the Pakistan team is striving to keep the trophy at home, the other competing teams have been intensifying the pressure on the International Cricket Council (ICC) to move the contest to another country for security reasons. Officials believe that Ashraf’s resignation could wreck Pakistan’s chances of being able to host the tournament. Ashraf who just returned from a holiday in the US believes that his stepping down will have no effect on the Champions Trophy. It now remains the decision of the Cricket Board to accept his resignation now or let him continue till the end of the Champions Trophy.

Ashraf’s career has hardly been a smooth one. Ironically appointed just before the earlier Champions Trophy kick started in India, he came at a time when Pakistan Cricket was in a storm. Inzamam Ul Haq had just been banned following the Oval-test debacle and Younis Khan was refusing to take charge as the team captain. Since then, Ashraf’s career has been a roller-coaster ride running over dope scandals and other controversies, the low point being Pakistan’s expulsion from the World Cup and Bob Woolmer’s suspicious death.

Ashraf’s role in Pakistan’s cricket has been influential and he brought about several positive changes in the management. Now his resignation is likely to spark major changes in the national cricket frame. With a new PCB chief the Pakistan Cricket team is likely to get reordered, with the jobs of Captain Shoaib Malik, Coach Geoff Lawson at bay.

With a new Chairman, and new selectors, perhaps the Pakistan team will see the improvements it needs most at a time like this.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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