Most players are mentally disturbed: Akhtar

Former fast-bowler bemoans ‘darkest era’ in Pakistan cricket.

Bowling legend Shoaib Akhtar slammed Pakistan cricket, claiming most of the current players are ‘mentally disturbed’ and that the country’s sport is currently enduring its ‘darkest era’, according to Sport360.

In a scathing attack, in the aftermath of the side’s deplorable performance at the Champions Trophy, Akhtar blamed poor junior coaching for the side’s batting woes. He said the Pakistan team needs a new coach, who can ‘unite the players in the dressing room’.

“This is the darkest era,” said Akhtar. “To get the positives out of this era you could get the team to enter everything in the right manner, like the South African team.

“They survived in isolation [during the Apartheid era 1970-1991] and Pakistan could have done the same. Pakistan is in a much better position than South Africa were.”

Pakistan have struggled recently, with the team’s batting failing consistently at the top-level and has been a subject of scrutiny. The side has been bowled out within their 50 overs in seven of their last 12 ODIs and have already been eliminated from the ongoing Champions Trophy.

Defends Misbah

Akhtar also came to the defence of Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq, who has been criticised for slow play. He believes the skipper has no choice but to adopt a conservative and safety-first approach due to the poor performance of his colleagues.

The former speedster said Pakistan’s batting woes were a result of poor coaching at the grass-root levels.

“Pakistan has always been able to produce some of the world’s greatest players. The greatest, however, have not coached the under-19 and the under-16 teams where they can be matured as a batsman.

“By those ages you should have maturity as a batsman. The best age is 15, if you tell them how to play the game and rotate the strike, that’s where real coaching comes into play. I would say that there is a huge gap in that area.”

Akhtar also suggested Tom Moody’s name as a possible solution to Pakistan’s ongoing problems.

“Pakistan should go for Tom Moody, he is the only man who can bring the match-winning attitude into the team. He is fantastic, rugged, brilliant manager, brilliant motivator and accommodator and he knows how to handle guys.

“Most of the players do not perform on the field, why? Because they’re mentally disturbed. They have a lot fears; take those fears away, that is the coach’s job, it is not to teach the game.”

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2013.