ISLAMABAD - Former captain Inzamamul Haq Tuesday said due to the not happening of international cricket in Pakistan, players were not coming up to that mark as used to be in the past.
Talking to a private news channel, Inzamam, who is the leading run scorer for Pakistan in One-day international cricket and the second-highest run scorer for the country in Test cricket after Javed Miandad, said: “There were big names in the past like Javed Miandad, Zaheer Abbas, Basit Ali, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis, Shoaib Akthar etc but now we don't see anybody come up to that level.”
“We don't have that quality of players now. It is due to the lack of international and departmental cricket which is not being played in the country,” he added.
Praising Younus Khan's double centuries in the first Test against Zimbabwe, Inzamam, who was the captain of the national team from 2003 to 2007, said: “Younus is a great hard worker and youngsters should follow his example. Had Younus not played superb innings of unbeaten 200 runs, Pakistan could have lost the first Test.”
The former captain, who rose to fame in the 1992 World Cup semi-final scoring 60 runs off 37 balls against New Zealand, said the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) should set up a policy for the betterment of former and current players.
“If any player or anybody criticises any other former or current player, the board should step forward in the issue and ask the critic for the evidence on whose basis he was ridiculing the other. If that player is unable to provide evidences then strict action should be taken against him," Inzamam concluded.