PCB reveals ambitious 5-year plan for ranking amongst top cricket boards in the world

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) unveiled a new five-year plan on Monday for the sake of the game’s governance in the country. The new strategy aims to make the PCB one of the top-performing and the most credible associations in the world. Speaking about the plan, a PCB statement said that the plan which has been approved by the Board of Governors has been made keeping in mind 4 crucial core principles: Accountability, Transparency, Ethics and Professionalism.

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Imran Khan-patronized PCB aims to be amongst the top cricket boards in the world

The PCB's official statement further said that the progress of the implementation will be “robustly monitored” on a monthly basis during the course of the strategy. The plan, which is titled ‘Five-Year Plan to Inspire and Unify Our Nation’, lays down strategic and corporate objectives, sets a course of action for the progress of the national men’s, women’s and age-group teams and improve the structure for grassroots development. However, it does not get into the specifics of how these objectives will be achieved.

While speaking to Hindustan Times, the Managing Director of the PCB Wasim Khan said that they developed the five-year plan in 2019 and awaited a sign-off by the Board of Governors. He added that they are delighted that they received the official sign-off in February this year and are now in a position to formally announce it. He also said that the delivery against key priorities for the 2019-2023 plan began last year.

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Khan further said that the PCB has the potential and drive to be amongst the very top cricket boards in the world. He added that this aspiration, with a commitment to action, will drive them on so that they can become consistently successful on the field and highly competent off it. 

While the plan seems to sound altruistic, it remains to seen whether what kind of role would the board's Patron-in-Chief and Prime Minister Imran Khan play in it to ensure that it is successful

BCCI raises strong objection over hosting of Asia Cup

In recent days, several reports have emerged stating that the Asia Cup 2020 will be played in Sri Lanka or the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The reports also stated that Pakistan and Sri Lanka have mutually agreed to swap the hosting rights for this edition. The reports had emerged after an ACC (Asian Cricket Council) meeting last week.

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After the meeting, SLC chief Shammi Silva had, in fact, confirmed that his board have been talks with Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) for arranging the tournament. Silva had said that the PCB has already agreed to our hosting this edition due to the present world situation. He added that they had an online ACC meeting and they basically gave them the green light to host the tournament.

The BCCI raised a very strong objection over these reports and cleared that no decision was been taken regarding the fate of the tournament. While speaking to The Times of India, sources from the board said that they have no idea where such reports are coming from and even they're surprised at how fast these reports travel. The BCCI is clear that no decision was taken at the ACC meeting. The source added that the Sourav Ganguly led board is tired of giving out these clarifications. Earlier it was about travelling to Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka and BCCI had to deny it with an official statement and now this.

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IMAGE COURTESY: PTI