Sharjah: Najam Sethi, the new chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board, is determined to ensure international cricket returns to Pakistan and oversee a revival of fixtures against India in 2014.
The senior journalist, a former caretaker chief minister of Punjab, was appointed by Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and Sethi has called on the PM to get tough on terrorism if top teams are to return to the country for the first time since the 2009 attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus.
In the UAE for Pakistan’s ongoing series against Sri Lanka, Sethi granted Gulf News a wide-ranging interview, in which he also revealed that he had held discussions with his Indian counterpart N. Srinivasan, and claimed that Qatar could become a rival to the UAE for hosting Pakistan matches, and praised the Pakistan team’s progress in one-day cricket.
Excerpts from the interview:
Gulf News: Your country has been deprived of international matches for nearly four years. Have you any plans of starting a campaign to bring international teams back to play in Pakistan?
Najam Sethi: Whatever we do, it is not a function of management. The need of the hour is diplomacy. There is a bottom line here and that is we need to get a grip on terrorism. No amount of putting a brave face and telling the world that we have the best security arrangements is going to work, so one of the things that the Prime Minister has asked me do on taking up the job is to bring foreign teams back to Pakistan.
So how do you plan to go about this task?
I have told the prime minister that I will do my best to make it happen, but he too will have to do his job [of combating terrorism]. He laughed and said that his job is very tough and I said that my job is dependent on the success of his job. If he can sort out terrorism or at least make an effort for the whole world to see that he is making the effort, then we will be able to convince nations to come and play in Pakistan. Right now, I need something to work on. The Prime Minister has agreed and he has said he will give me the opening. So I am waiting to see what sort of opening the government will provide us. We need to demonstrate to the world we are going to be tough on terrorism. We have not done that so far but we will do it and convince the Prime Minister that we mean business.
Are you happy with the way Pakistan are shaping up for the upcoming World Cups?
If you have noticed, you will know that we were at rock bottom. Recently we went to Zimbabwe and won there, then we went to the West Indies and also won. We toured South Africa and beat them there. We lost only the one-day series here [to South Africa], so I feel three out of four is really good. Now the youngsters on whom we have invested are shaping up. So I think the infusion of new blood has been good for us. Now they have a whole year in which to play themselves in and so I am optimistic that we will give a good fight in both the World Twenty20 and the 50 over World Cup in 2015.
How happy are you with the domestic structure in Pakistan? Are you planning any changes?
If I stay as chairman, my first job is to revamp the whole domestic structure in Pakistan. I have no doubt in my mind that we need to revitalise cricket and infuse new technology, methods, accountabilities and cut out duplications and make it into a lean domestic structure in line with the standards all over the world. We can even use nationalism and regionalism to inspire local teams to give their best. Currently the domestic system is too archaic.
What do you feel about the UAE’s contribution to Pakistan by being your home venue?
Their contribution has been wonderful. They have bailed us out in many ways. By holding all our home matches here, we have also done a lot for UAE cricket and put them in the map in many ways. Through my discussions with the senior officials here I have realised that the costs [of staging matches] can be brought down if we can give them a longer-term contract. Right now we are working on a year-to-year and series-to-series basis. We also looking at other venues, especially Qatar, which is coming up. Right now, our women’s team is hosting a home series and playing a trilateral tournament in Qatar because the costs are considerably lower compared to Dubai or Sharjah. For us, costs are an important matter.
So you mean to say that Qatar will be considered to stage your international matches?
We are trying out by playing the women’s team there though, right now, we don’t know the standards and whether international men’s teams will want to come and play there. This is just a trial run and we want to see what they can do and what sort of facilities are available. They have just created a turf ground and, therefore, we will review the situation once that trilateral series is over. Obviously UAE is the preferred option.
So are you looking at cost effective venues for your home matches?
Costs are very important for us and, even if the UAE’s three cities cannot together reduce costs, if one of them can offer us reduced costs, we would seriously consider holding our next series there totally — especially in Sharjah. Sharjah is more cost-effective than other cities, but with regard to staying and other facilities, they are lacking what western teams look forward to. The problem is that western teams prefer to play in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, so right now we are distributing the matches.
So does that mean staging matches in UAE has not been cost-effective?
No, it has not been terribly profitable. If it was profitable in any meaningful sense, we would have looked ahead to play here for two years from now. But we are not doing that and hoping we could open up our own country to international cricket within a year instead. That is our objective.
Any plans for staging an India-Pakistan series soon?
I met N. Srinivasan [President of the Board of Control for Cricket in India] during an ICC meeting in London and in Thailand last month during the Asian Cricket Council meet and I discussed it with him. In principle he said he has no issues, however, he said that the Indian elections are on their way and a series like this one needs a nod from New Delhi. I remember him saying at the ICC meeting that an India-Pakistan series is bigger than the Ashes and we mean it in financial terms as well. He knows the value of it, so we are sure of staging India-Pakistan in 2014.
Would the UAE be considered as your home ground for the series?
From Pakistan’s points of view, we would like it to be played anywhere. If India wants to invite us to India, we will go, but of course we want India to come to Pakistan. If India does not come to Pakistan, we will suggest to them to play here. We want to play India wherever, and I am sure this is going to happen next year.
