Imran launches drive to select next generation of cricketers

Talent hunt programme will seek the best players from K-P, FATA.

PESHAWAR:

After holding a cricket match for peace last year, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has launched the under-17 ‘Imran Khan Cricket Talent Hunt Programme’ at Arbab Niaz Cricket Stadium to discover talented sportsmen in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the tribal areas.

A performing troupe of the Frontier Constabulary enthralled spectators with the traditional Khattak dance while cricket star Shahid Afridi’s presence at the venue served as a benchmark for aspiring professional cricketers.

The programme, inaugurated by Imran Khan on Saturday, will incorporate former cricketers to act as selectors and coaches to form a team each from the seven divisions of the province.

The talent hunt will involve four-day selection trials in each division wherein boys from settled areas as well as the Frontier Regions and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) will participate.

On the first day of trials in Peshawar, which will end on January 28, a total 2,003 players from Peshawar, Charsadda, Nowshera, FR Peshawar and Khyber Agency participated. Chief Selector Maazullah will select the division-level team for Peshawar with the help of his assistant, Anwer Zeb.



Seven teams will be selected in total during the trials, after which a training camp will be organised to train them for a tournament. The tournament will consist of 22 matches, after which a single team of 16 players will be formed.

“I live in Karachi but my heart is in K-P and Fata. The tribal areas have more talent than any other part of the country. I met the governor to discuss promotion of sports in the region and he informed me that he has approved a sports academy for the tribal areas,” said Afridi while talking to the young players. He lauded PTI’s talent hunt initiative and said talented individuals cannot be discovered without opportunities.

PTI Chairman Imran Khan said he will provide talented players from K-P and Fata to the national team and will help bring the cricket world cup to Pakistan. “The selection process will be transparent and players will not be selected on anyone’s recommendations,” promised Khan.

Khan said the provincial government will set up sports complexes at tehsil levels across the province this year and will do the same next year in every union council. He said he was selected at the age of 16 in the under-19 cricket team for Lahore and knows the value of such programmes for aspiring cricketers.

The PTI chief said talent, technique and temperament are the three things that make a champion, and promised to meet the selected team of 16 next year.

“Any player who comes to the ground thinking about losing will always lose. The idea is to become a champion before playing the match,” said Khan.

Hafiz Muhammad Abbas, an aspiring professional cricketer from Peshawar, said the programme is the need of the hour as the province does not lack talent but is short of avenues for opportunity. Another player, Hasan Hayat, said this drive will bring the best players to the forefront through transparent means.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2014.