Former Prime Minister Imran Khan dismantled Pakistan’s domestic cricket pathways by overriding technical advice to force a regional restructure, according to former selector Haroon Rasheed.
Rasheed revealed that Khan rejected a proposed eight-team hybrid model following his 2018 election. The former Pakistan Cricket Board official said a task force recommended retaining departmental participation to preserve grassroots development.
Speaking on the Smash It podcast, with comments carried by the Hindustan Times, Rasheed said: “But Imran, in his short meeting with us, rejected the hybrid model and said he didn’t want eight but a maximum of five to six teams in the domestic structure.”
Loss Of Decentralised Control
The resulting six-team system centralised power within the PCB and eroded traditional club routes. Rasheed contrasted this approach with India’s successful domestic framework, which relies on independent state associations to feed players into international formats and Canadian franchise ventures.
“In Pakistan, now all powers are with the PCB, which needs to decentralise power and give more independence to regional associations and departments as was the case in the past,” Rasheed told CricTracker.
These structural vulnerabilities have compounded Pakistan’s recent international struggles, resulting in four consecutive failed ICC tournament campaigns. Their technical flaws were recently exposed by English seam during the ongoing Test series.
Pakistan are currently contesting a home Test series against England as part of the World Test Championship cycle.
