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Shaharyar Khan was the cousin of former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi.©AFP
Shaharyar Khan, a career diplomat and former president of the Pakistan Cricket Board who played an important role in re-establishing cricket ties with India in the early 2000s, has died. He was 89 years old. The Bhopal-born Pakistani diplomat, cousin of former India captain Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, breathed his last here on Friday after battling a prolonged illness. He served as Foreign Secretary of Pakistan between 1990 and 1994 and also as High Commissioner to New Delhi and the United Kingdom. Shaharyar led the PCB from 2003 to 2006, a period in which India toured Pakistan twice, and from 2014 to 2017.
He also worked as Pakistan team manager during the 1999 tour of India and the 2003 Cricket World Cup. He belonged to the Bhopal royal family.
Shaharyar, an erudite personality who also wrote several books on his experiences in foreign affairs and cricket, in an interview last year, regretted that in his last tenure as PCB chief he was unable to revive regular bilateral Test cricket ties with India , which have been suspended since 2007 due to tense relations between the two neighbors.
Perhaps the biggest controversy during his tenure as PCB president was Pakistan losing the Oval Test to England in 2006, which he blamed on the then captain, Inzamam-ul-Haq.
Shaharyar later expressed concern about Inzamam’s push to introduce religion into the team.
Current PCB president Mohsin Naqvi also expressed his condolences on the demise of Shaharyar.
“On behalf of the PCB, I express my deepest condolences and sorrow on the demise of former President Shaharyar Khan. He was an excellent administrator and served Pakistan Cricket with utmost dedication.
“Pakistan Cricket will remain indebted to the late Shaharyar Khan for his commendable role as chief executive and for his services in the growth and development of the game in the country,” Naqvi said.
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