KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has decided to merge their domestic and international cricket departments together into a new department dubbed the ‘department of cricket affairs’. The board has abolished the posts of department directors, instead creating two posts for general managers.

Previously, Intikhab Alam and Zakir Khan had been exchanging the domestic and international cricket director posts between themselves for a while but the board has decided to bring in some new blood. Intikhab was currently serving as the domestic cricket director, with Zakir looking after international cricket affairs.

“Usman Wahla will take over from Zakir as the international cricket general manager while Ali Zia will replace Intikhab as the domestic cricket general manager,” a senior PCB official told The Express Tribune. “Both Usman and Zia will now report to Chief Operating Officer Subhan Ahmed. This is the start of another ‘right-sizing’ campaign to make the PCB a more efficient body.”

Usman has been a vital cog of the PCB’s international cricket department, dealing with matters almost single-handedly to the point that others around him have come to depend heavily on him. Zia, on the other hand, brings in vast experience of first-class cricket and modern day coaching.

Zia has previously served as the academies senior general manager and a high-profile coach at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). Along with Jalaluddin, Mudassar Nazar and Aqib Jawed, Zia was one of the first few people to undertake modern coaching courses from Cricket Australia and the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Meanwhile, Zakir will be appointed the U19 and A team manager. While the future of Intikhab is yet to be decided, chairman Shaharyar Khan remains keen to keep him in the board.

The PCB has come in for severe criticism for persisting with Zakir and Intikhab despite the duo’s constant failure to deliver. Even this right-sizing campaign seems to remove them from their current roles only to give them other ones.

However, former skipper Intikhab has served as the manager of the Pakistan team in 1992 and 2009 — when the team won the World Cup under Imran Khan and the World T20 under Younus Khan.

He remains a contender to be appointed as the advisor to the chairman, but the board wants to bring in new blood in the advisory role. “The PCB wants to bring in someone who has got the knowledge of how modern day cricket is evolving,” added the official. “Therefore recent former players such as Shoaib Akhtar, Saqlain Mushtaq and Azhar Mehmood are in the reckoning. They will vie with old horses such as Intikhab and Wasim Bari but Shaharyar wants to bring in someone who can offer fresh ideas.”

The official also revealed that three former mainstays of the side are also out of the running. “Inzamamul Haq was suggested to Shaharyar but he is against his induction as he feels Inzi let him down by infamously forfeiting that Test against England, while Wasim Akram or Ramiz Raja can’t be appointed as they have been announced as ambassadors for the Pakistan Super League.”

Courtesy: THE EXPRESS TRIBUNE