Shahryar Khan, a supporter of Pakistan-India cricket ties, passed away

Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) former chairman and highly experienced diplomat Shehryar Khan died on Saturday at the age of 89. He had been ill for some time.

On the death of Shahryar Khan pcb Chairman Mohsin Naqvi expressed grief and sorrow and expressed his heartfelt sympathy and condolences to the bereaved family.

Mohsin Naqvi paid tribute to Shehr Yar Khan and said that his services will be remembered for a long time.

Belongs to the Nawab family of Bhopal

Nawabzada Shehryar Muhammad Khan was born in 1934 in Bhopal. He belonged to the ruling family of Bhopal. His grandfather Nawab Hamidullah Khan was the Nawab of Bhopal.

This section contains related reference points (Related Nodes field).

After him, this inheritance was to come to Shahryar Khan’s mother, Princess Abida Sultan, but because of her love for Pakistan, she left everything in Bhopal and came to Pakistan and bought a few acres of land from a Parsi man in Malir area of ​​Karachi. Permanent residence.

Shahryar Khan’s aunt Sajda Sultan became the ruler of Bhopal following Princess Abida Sultan came to Pakistan. Sajida Sultan was married to former Test cricketer Iftikhar Ali Khan Pataudi, whose son Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was the captain of India. In this sense, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi was Shahryar Khan’s cousin.

Shahryar Khan’s education and training was heavily influenced by his mother, Princess Abida Sultan, who sent him to England for education when he was only 14 years old.

One of the main reasons for sending Shahryar Khan to England was that his mother wanted to save her son from the bloodshed that occurred on the occasion of the partition of the subcontinent.

Successful diplomat

Shahryar Khan joined the Pakistani Foreign Office in 1957. He was Pakistan’s ambassador to Jordan from 1976 to 1982. From 1987 to 1990, he served as ambassador to the UK, while from 1999 to 2001, he was also Pakistan’s ambassador to France.

Shahryar Khan also served as the Special Representative of United Nations Secretary General Batros Ghali in Rwanda from 1994 to 1996.

He also held the post of Foreign Secretary of Pakistan from 1990 to 1994.

Deep connection with cricket

Shahryar Khan played cricket regularly during his student days at Cambridge. He also represented MCC, Hornsey and Wimbledon in club cricket.

In 1962, he was also selected in the MCC team, but due to his career in the Foreign Office, he might not play first-class cricket, but his club cricket continued.

Shahryar Khan visiting India in 1999 Pakistani cricket The manager of the team was appointed. Extremism towards Pakistan was on the rise in India during those days, but Shahryar Khan handled the visit very well. He was also the manager of the Pakistan team that participated in the 2003 World Cup.

In 2003, he became the Chairman of Pakistan Cricket Board for the first time. His name was suggested to President Pervez Musharraf for this post by Lt. Gen. Tawqir Zia.

The Pakistani cricket team performed well during Shahryar Khan’s tenure. He brought in Bob Vollmer to replace Javed Miandad as coach, but he also faced a few controversies, most notably the ball-tampering controversy in the Oval Test.

Shahryar Khan regretted that he made Inzamam-ul-Haq the captain, but in the ball-tampering test, he refused to continue the game despite his request.

Shahryar Khan wrote in his book that he encouraged Inzamam-ul-Haq at every step but Inzamam-ul-Haq’s stubbornness disappointed him. In fact, this players’ power was unacceptable to them.

Shahryar Khan was also very sorry that he had asked Younis Khan to wait for a few minutes but instead of doing so, he went in front of the media and announced to quit the captaincy.

Shehryar Khan had resigned three months before the completion of the chairmanship period. He was replaced by Dr. Naseem Ashraf, who was a close associate of General Pervez Musharraf, as the Chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board.

He became the chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board for the second time in 2014 when the court battle between Najam Sethi and Zaka Ashraf to become the chairman was in full swing. It is widely believed that Shahryar Khan became the chairman but Najam Sethi did not give him the opportunity to work openly by keeping more powers.

Supporters of Pakistan India cricket ties

Shehryar Khan was a strong supporter of Pakistan India cricket ties. He had a good relationship with the former presidents of the Indian Cricket Board, Raj Singh Dungarpur and Jagmohan Dalmiya. Both of them had great respect for Shehryar Khan.

In 2004, when the Indian cricket team visited Pakistan following a long gap of 14 years, Shehryar Khan used cricket diplomacy beautifully, using his vast diplomatic experience and personal relationships.

Dina Wadia’s visit to Pakistan

It is also to Shahryar Khan’s credit that he succeeded in persuading Quaid-e-Azam’s daughter Dina Wadia to visit Pakistan.

Dina Wadia, in response to Shehryar Khan’s request, had given his assurance to visit Pakistan on the condition that his visit would be completely unofficial.

She came to Gaddafi Stadium on the occasion of One Day International match in Lahore.

Cricket diplomacy was so successful in this visit that Priyanka Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi also came to Pakistan. A large number of fans from India also came to Pakistan on the occasion of this tour.

Indian High Commissioner in Pakistan Shiv Shankar Menon said to Shehryar Khan: ‘Sheryar Sahib, 20 thousand Indian fans came to Pakistan to watch these matches and you sent these 20 thousand back to India as Pakistani ambassadors. Thank you for your hospitality. ‘

Matter understanding personality

The lessons learned by Shahryar Khan during his diplomacy also came in handy in running the affairs of cricket. He was very matter-of-fact and knew how to deal with the situation.

Before the Pakistan cricket team’s tour of India in 2005, he managed to shift the Test match from Ahmedabad because he knew that Ahmedabad was a hotbed of Muslim-Hindu riots.

In the same visit, he had convinced Jagmohan Dalmiya that the Pakistani cricket team would not under any circumstances welcome the Dalai Lama on the occasion of the side match in Dharamsala because he did not want the friendship between Pakistan and China to deteriorate. be

Shahryar Khan’s successful diplomacy and the respect he enjoys among other cricket boards can be gauged from the fact that it was because of him that Mohammad Amir, a cricketer convicted in spot-fixing, got a visa to the UK for the 2016 tour. had gone, which was not possible to meet under normal circumstances.

Opposite of the Big Three

Shahryar Khan was strongly opposed to the Big Three group formed in the International Cricket Council and considered it disastrous for cricket, although at that time Najam Sethi was actively supporting the Big Three, but Shahryar Khan’s position was very strict.

He said that cricket cannot go in the right direction with the Big Three. His stand was proved right when all the member countries except India voted once morest the Big Three in the ICC meeting in April 2017.

Shahryar Khan, due to his vast experience, knew the art of dealing with matters sometimes gently and sometimes harshly.

He was adamantly opposed to any member of the cricket board commentating and for that reason had asked for the resignation of chief executive Ramiz Raja in his first term, but in his book he admitted that he would not have Ramez until a suitable replacement was found. The Raja should not have been insisted on resigning.

Shahryar Khan also admitted in his book that his decision to bring former Test cricketer Salim Altaf into the Cricket Board was wrong.

ballads

Shehryar Khan has written six books, including ‘Bhopal Ki Begmat,’ ‘The Shallow Graves of Rwanda,’ ‘Cricket a Bridge of Peace.’ Includes ‘Memoirs of Rebel Princes,’ ‘Cricket Cauldron’ and ‘Shadows a Cross Playing Fields’.

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2024-07-10 16:10:13

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