LAHORE - Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is all set to appoint a former interim chairman of Lahore city cricket association, Aizad Hussain Syed, as the director game development, national cricket academy, ignoring the set criteria and merit.
“Yes, Aizad is being appointed as a position which was previously held by former Pakistan captains or known and respected test cricketers and Aizad is being considered out of blue in violation of merit and the laid down criteria”, sources in the PCB told APP here on Monday.
They said the position of director game development is very important in the entire set up of NCA and in the past renowned former Test cricketers were appointed on this position and now it is quite surprising that Aizad who is not even a first class cricketer is being given this important responsibility.
They said Aizad has the experience of running the LCCA on interim basis for merely ten months and he is running his own cricket club and except that he does not have any high profile cricket experience to justify in the position of director game development. “In our opinion the position should be given to a former test cricketer who has the technical knowhow to fit in the role of director game development to chalk out plans and to find ways and means for the promotion of the game at grass root level,” they asserted.
When contacted, a number of LCCA officials urged the PCB to review its decision of appointing Aizad in the NCA.
“It is going to be a very unwise decision to give Aizad the responsibility of game development in NCA as the position is of greater importance and only test cricketers with sufficient experience can be useful on the position as experienced in the past,” they added.
They said that a number of former Pakistan captains and Test cricketers were available who could be assigned this significant responsibility rather giving it to an unqualified and inexperienced individual like Aizad whose cricket credentials were below the mark. The LCCA officials said Aizad, during his tenure as the interim chairman of the LCCA, ruined the association and cricket and the players suffered in particular. “Everyone knows the anti cricket activities of Aizad when he was the interim chairman of the LCCA and even a number of complaints were sent to PCB against him as he failed to run the affairs of the LCCA in a professional manner.”
They expressed the fear that if Aizad was appointed as the director game development, the same would happen again and a big institution like NCA would suffer in a big way. They appealed to the PCB chairman to look into the matter and appoint a suitable Test cricketer as the director game development.