ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has directed the task force on domestic cricket to make a policy for introducing a six-team first-class format aimed at raising the standard of the game.

PM Imran here on Wednesday held a meeting with the task force on bringing improvement in Pakistan cricket.

The meeting was attended by Inter-provincial Coordination secretary Akbar Durrani, Pakistan Cricket Board chairman Ehsan Mani, retired Lt Gen Muzammil Hussain, Waseem Gulzar Khan, Subhan Ahmed, Mudassar Nazar and Haroon Rashid.

According to a brief press release issued on the meeting, “The meeting reviewed various steps about the present situation of cricket in the country, its administrative structure and the steps taken to highlight local talent in this regard.”

Sources said the prime minister rejected the idea of having a large number of teams including departments in first-class cricket while emphasising that ideally there should be six first-class teams, one each from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Federal Areas and two from Punjab.

According to sources, the prime minister directed the task force to finalise a policy on domestic cricket and share it with him again in the next meeting, after which a final decision will be made about the structure of domestic game.

It is relevant to note here that before becoming the prime minister, Imran over the years had pointed out several flaws in Pakistan’s domestic cricket. During his opposition days, he had publicly stated that domestic cricket structure was very poor lacking competitiveness, and therefore needed to be overhauled.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2019