The advent of September marks the beginning of Pakistan's domestic cricket season. The 7 months program kicked off with a bang on September 1 with the Pepsi Under-19 Championship starting at 8 cricket centers in the country. The overall plan envisages the playing of 458 matches constituting a dozen tournaments. Quaid-e-Azam Trophy is the premier tournament followed by the Patron's Trophy. The players' performance in these tournaments is a big consideration for their entry in the national team.

I am sure, only a few cricket playing countries in the world would be implementing such a comprehensive domestic cricket plan that includes a variety of matches of 1-4 days duration and caters for players of different age groups. Except for some additions and alterations made for the current year, almost similar programs were followed in the past. Domestic cricket in different forms has been in vogue since the game took its roots in the country and produced scores of outstanding players who brought laurels to the country. Still there are people who shout at the top of their voice that "Pakistan has no cricket structure".

Pakistan's former captain and the erstwhile super star of his days Imran Khan is one person who has never accepted the country's domestic cricket system from the core of his heart. He got into the Pakistan side and rose to super stardom after being groomed and polished by the county cricket in England. Since he did not play domestic cricket in Pakistan, he considered it expedient to deny its very existence rather than involving himself into it and trying to understand the structure. The phrase that "there is no cricket structure in Pakistan" is so deeply ingrained in his mind that he repeats it in international cricket forums, interviews and press conferences whenever and where ever he gets a chance to do so.

Having won the World Cup 92 and emerged as runners-up in 99 Pakistan enjoys a respectable position in the comity of cricket playing nations. It also has a lot of other remarkable triumphs to its credit. It has many a times, displayed the capability of defeating best of the best teams in international competitions. Including Imran Khan who brought the greatest honor to the country, Pakistan has produced lot of players who could stand in line with the best players of the world. Not only that Pakistan contributed its due share to England's county cricket some of its players like Majid Khan, Sarfraz Nawaz, Zaheer Abbas, Javed Miandad, Mushtaq Muhammad, Mudasar Nazar, Saleem Malik, Mushtaq Ahmed, Saqlain Mushtaq and others distinguished themselves in the championship matches. All of them were the products of Pakistan's domestic cricket. Scores of youngsters playing league cricket in England are also the off springs of the same structure. With such an impressive performance condemning the Pakistan's domestic cricket especially by a person of Imran Khan's high stature appears more like a joke.

To clarify Imran Khan's aversion to the system, I would like to explain that in contrast to the systems that prevailed in other countries, Pakistan's domestic cricket comprised of a "multiple system" of participation. While one group was composed of teams belonging to regional associations the other represented the teams maintained by government departments, commercial institutions and organizations affiliated with the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) as its members. While the two groups played their respective tournaments some of the competitions were common for both.

Providing a wider participation and offering a tough competition to the participants the system worked wonderfully well but somehow our dear Imran Khan was allergic to it. He desired the component formed by the government departments, and commercial organizations to be ousted not only from domestic cricket but also debarred from the membership of the board. In a country suffering from a prolonged economic crisis, these bodies provided employment to thousands of players, stipends to countless deserving youngsters, borne all their sports expenses down to the provision of cricket kit, created grounds and stadiums and sponsored tournaments.

The active participation of these organizations in cricket was widely appreciated because in an atmosphere of rampant unemployment, they were providing a decent living along with a million dollar worth of respectability to the players. With their efforts purely aimed at the promotion of cricket in the country they were sharing a lot of PCB's burden in this regard. Absolutely oblivious of their invaluable contribution, Imran wanted the country's cricket to be completely regionalized. Unfortunately this became his obsession.

No one knowing the reason for his dissent, Imran launched a campaign against the ouster of these organizations from the board and has partly succeeded in his unsporting mission. Finding the contribution of these bodies highly valuable for the careers of players and for promotion of cricket, the previous boards paid no heed to his outbursts on the subject. Impressed by his stature as a super star and aspirations to hold the mantle of a great politician, the present set up of the PCB has, however, succumbed to his desires partly. In the new PCB constitution, which is under process, these organizations are said to have been removed from the board's membership. A little courtesy has been shown to let them retain their playing rights and compete for at least the Patron's Trophy.

The PCB perhaps does not realize that having been deprived of the honor of the Board's membership, these organizations will lose interest in maintaining cricket teams. Apart from hundreds of boys losing their jobs, the size of our domestic cricket will eventually squeeze, making the tournaments less competitive, thus retarding progress of the game.

© CricInfo