Former Pakistan chief selector questions purpose of army boot camp

The camp will bring no improvement in national team’s performance, says legendary spinner Abdul Qadir

Former Pakistan leg-spinner Abdul Qadir said the Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) decision to have a boot camp in Kakul will bring no improvement in national team’s performance on their upcoming tour of England, Press Trust of India reported on Friday.

The 60-year-old said that the main area of focus for Pakistan should be towards improving their batting and skills.

“What is the purpose of this boot camp? It has been organised to improve fitness of players, but to me the most important area on which our players need to work and improve for the England tour is the batting and skills department,” he said.

“I don’t know what was the purpose of having this boot camp, with so much stress on fitness,” he added.



The former leg-spinner recommended that instead of sending players to boot camp, they should have been trained on seaming pitches, similar to the ones in England.

“It would have been far more sensible to prepare four or five seaming pitches in Lahore or any other venue and have the probables for the tour play proper four-day matches among themselves,” he said.

“These matches on pitches similar to what we should encounter in England would have helped our players prepare properly for the upcoming Test series where our batting will be the most vulnerable.”



Qadir, who was chief selector when Pakistan won World T20 in 2009, also criticised newly-appointed head coach Mickey Arthur for not joining the national side at the camp.

“I don't know when Arthur will be able to take charge. Might be few days before the team leaves for England,” he said.

“What can one expect him to deliver? It was necessary for him to attend the camp to assess each and every player.”



The legendary leg-spinner was also critical about PCB chairman Shaharyar Khan’s recent statement about lack of educated players in the team being the cause for national team’s downfall.

“If that was the case then I must ask Shaharyar Khan what he has to say about cricketers like me, Wasim Akram, Javed Miandad, Inzamam, Muhammad Yousuf, Younus Khan, Abdul Razzaq, and Saqlain Mushtaq,” he said.