Nowadays, Pakistan is playing a decisive series in order to qualify for 2017 Champions trophy which will be played in England. Now, two teams will contest for the 8th rank and will qualify for the prestigious tournament – and Pakistan is one of them. The days of our glory seem to be a thing of the distant past, today.
The downfall of cricket in Pakistan has not happened all of a sudden, it has plenty of problems at the grassroots level. Currently, the team is rebuilding and a new captain is appointed. However, the persistent issue with us is that we don’t attempt to go deeper to tackle our problems at their core. Here are some of the core issues that have been ruining cricket in our country for years:
Firstly, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is a highly politicized body. If Najam Sethi – a media personality and journalist – can be the Chairman of PCB, then the sacking of Zaka Ashraf by our respected Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is perfectly understandable. The point that I’m trying to make here is that, appointing a media personality to head a Cricket body is like asking a journalist to teach O’ Level chemistry or physics. How will a guy who doesn’t know anything about cricket – how the structure is run, how the domestic policies are implemented, who will players be inducted in the national team – run the most important cricket organization of the country.
Not only is the chairman, the management, too, heavily politicized. A few coaches are rotated without testing fresh, young minds and giving them a fair chance to coach. Another problem is that the board is not giving ex-players the chance to coach the team e.g. Wasim Akram, who has spent time coaching in India, Saqlain Mushtaq, who coached in England, Aaqib Javed, coaching the UAE national team and Shoaib Akhtar, who is hosting a cricket show in India. If other teams are utilizing their expertise, why aren’t we benefitting from them?
Secondly, our domestic cricket structure is also very weak. There isn’t an availability of proper grounds. Now, you should know that domestic players are not from rich backgrounds. They can’t book a ground from themselves and pay for the generator. They are those who played and learnt cricket on the streets and manage to become stars for their national side. This is how our bowlers and batsmen emerge. These players are not worked on, not polished; no proper system is followed, we do not select players on merit and talent isn’t given a proper chance to shine. Even if they do perform, they are removed from the scene because some important personality bribes or otherwise influences the authorities, and is replaced by a less deserving player who will stay with the team – otherwise known as “The Sifarashi”.
The likes of Javed Miadad, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younus, Inzamam-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Saeed Anwar, Saeed Ajmal, were all players who emerged from the streets. Yes, I am excluding Imran Khan since he came from a wealthy background, and is not a suitable example for this case. Here, I’d like to share a personal experience.
My friends and I recently went to National Cricket Academy (NCA) where two club level teams were playing. Now, we witnessed that the batsmen did not have sound technique. He did not know how to hit in the gap and run, when not to play cross to a spinner, and where to loft and where not to. What’s more, we witnessed coaches and players mocking each other with jugats (jokes), displaying a very non-serious attitude. Here, both the board and the players are to be blamed: the board, for not having a proper system, and the player for thinking he will never get a chance in the team. This is a constant tussle and a proper revamp is needed at grass root level to alleviate these problems.
These are just a few issues that I’ve shed light on – there are plenty of other problems in Pakistani cricket. Let’s save their discussion for another time.
