Imran Khan gets flak for tweets on cricket in hour of crisis

Karachi: Pakistan's legendary cricketer- turned-politician, Imran Khan faced criticism after calling for an overhaul in the cricket structure in a series of tweets at a time when some 45 people have been killed due to heavy rains in the Khyber Pakhtunkhawa province.

Many people took to twitter, pointing out that Imran should be more concerned about the loss of lives and devastation in the KP province rather than worrying about cricket matters.

Imran, whose party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf rules the KPK province, in one of his tweets blamed Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for what he called the "mess in PCB".

"Nawaz Sharif appointed a journalist with no cricket credentials," he said with obvious reference to the appointment of Najam Sethi as Chairman of the Board in 2013.

People, upset with Imran said they wondered how he could think or tweet about cricket at a time he should be overseeing the rescue operations in the KPK province.

Imran, who won the 1992 World Cup as captain endorsed calls for overhauling the Pakistan cricket structure and board after the national team was embarrassed by Bangladesh in the recent one-day series and a lone T20 match.

Imran agreed that things had ?hit rock bottom? in Pakistan cricket.

"Since 80s I have been saying Pakistan's domestic cricket structure is deeply flawed [and] needs to be overhauled,? Imran tweeted.

"Pakistan cricket has hit rock bottom. PCB chief [Shahryar Khan] and ex-ICC chief [Ehsan Mani] are also pointing out that domestic structure needs overhauling,? he said

Ehsan Mani the former ICC President today gave advice on how to save cricket from sinking further in Pakistan.

Mani said there was a need to entrust professionals with the task of running the Pakistan cricket board and to change the domestic set-up.

Mani added if things continued as they were, Pakistan's future was bleak.

"I don?t want to pinpoint individuals. My only point of view is that the PCB is in need of a major overhaul. We have to make a five-year plan besides focusing on school, college and club cricket," Mani said in an interview to a leading English daily.