Karachi, Sept 18 : Former Pakistan Test captain Javed Miandad has said that the current set up of the PCB was an utter failure and needed to be replaced with “competent and professional people” who could bring back Pakistan cricket to its rightful place.

Pakistan needed a breath of fresh air to revive their cricketing fortunes, he added.

“The PCB has failed completely in the past few years. Today, teams are refusing to visit Pakistan and nobody takes us seriously in the cricket. These are very bad times for Pakistan cricket,” The News quoted Miandad as saying.

He added that ‘incompetent and unprofessional’ PCB officials had reduced Pakistan to the status of a “mere pushover” in the international cricket community.

The PCB is responsible for the sorry plight of Pakistan cricket, he said and added “till 1990s, Pakistan was considered to be a big power in world cricket. It was ranked up on the cricket pyramid alongside top cricket-playing nations like Australia, England and India. But now Pakistan is treated as a minor team like Kenya or Zimbabwe.”

He pointed out that it is because of a weak PCB that teams like Australia can easily pick and choose about which country to tour. “The Australians can easily skip tours of Pakistan on the pretext of terrorism but are readily available to go to India just days after deadly bombings taking place there. Had the PCB been a strong and competent body, such a thing would never be allowed,” Miandad claimed.

Rejecting the impression that he was lobbying for the post of PCB chairman, Miandad said: “Pakistan cricket has already given me a lot,” he said. “It has given me respect, fame and wealth and I don’t need anything more. I just want to help Pakistan cricket get back on its feet.” (ANI)