PCB to form independent panel to act as conduit between players and management

LAHORE, Sep 24: The Pakistan Cricket Board has agreed to form a two-member independent committee which will act as a conduit between the national team players, management and the board.
PCB chairman Mohsin Naqvi, following a day-long cricket connect conference on Monday attended by the board’s top leadership and foreign coaches Gary Kirsten and Jason Gillespie, assured the players that the committee to look into their grievances would be formed soon.
According to sources, the players voiced their concerns regarding problems in communicating with top PCB officials, especially in the international and domestic cricket departments.
Captains Shan Masood and Babar Azam backed by Muhammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shadab Khan and some other players told the meeting that they wanted a “bridge” with the board so that there are no misunderstandings and they can convey their issues and grievances to the board when required.
It was decided that the two-member committee would function independently to improve the communication between players, management, and different departments of the PCB, the source added.
Pakistan is one of the few Test-playing nations where there is still no players’ association recognised by the board.
The players also pointed out that they required a sense of security while representing Pakistan and there should be clarity from the selectors and the board over several issues, including captaincy.
The source said that Mohsin Naqvi assured the players that no imminent changes would be made in the national team captaincy and they should focus on their performances.
Naqvi advised the players to work on building a more cohesive and united environment in the dressing room, the source added.
“He (Naqvi) basically told the players that whoever the board had as captains the players must support them and play as one regardless of the format,” the source said.
PCB Chief Operating Officer Salman Naseer and the two foreign coaches later described the cricket connect session as productive and transparent.
“It provided us a forum to identifying issues and resolving them,” Naseer said.
“The session was about openly and candidly accepting and identifying (issues) and ask for a commitment from each other… demand it on how we can improve our performances and how we work together as a team. Our unanimous view was that we need to resolve this going forward and need to identify how we do it.” (PTI)