The ‘age-old’ problems of Pakistan cricket

KARACHI: It is always amusing to hear politicians rant about cricket and team performance. The National Assembly had another one of those largely preposterous sessions last Wednesday, the day Bangladesh heaped more misery on Pakistan by completing a 3-0 ODI series whitewash.

The incredibly ill-informed sports minister Riaz Hussain Pirzada cut a sorry figure addressing the concerns of the equally ill-informed parliamentarians – no one had a clue about the actual issues plaguing the game – the familiar buzz words like team spirit, cohesion, pride etc were bandied about with the utmost disregard for the sanctity of the players and the PCB officialdom.

After all the parliamentarians (mostly on the wrong side of 60) thrive in talking more and delivering little and trash talk is their oxygen.

The depressing fact is that Pakistan cricket has reached the proverbial nadir – whitewashed by a team they had beaten 31 times out of 32 before the series – finally one is forced to take the ICC ODI rankings seriously as the Greenshirts crash to their lowest ever, eighth spot.

Debutant Mukhtar Ahmed attempts a ramp shot, Bangladesh v Pakistan, Only T20I, Dhaka, April 24, 2015. PHOTO: FILE/AFP

The qualification for the 2017 Champions Trophy is also in a serious peril where the top eight feature against each other. If Pakistan lose their next two series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka – a team they haven’t beaten in an ODI series in the Lankan backyard for donkey’s years – the ranking would plummet further.

The cut-off for qualification for the Champions Trophy is September 2015; any team outside the top eight is not going to feature in the 2017 edition.

The PCB Chairman Shaharyar Khan claims that the ‘panic button’ won’t be pushed immediately, the new team needs time to settle.

Fair point, but how many such ‘rebuilding’ efforts have self-destructed in the past after ignominious defeats is a different tale altogether.

Shaharyar is perhaps too fearful of digging up recent history since he might have to roll some heads around him. The PCB ‘think tank’ is saddled in their seats for posterity and pushing the panic button might see his own reign end but for now he is defiant, dare I say stubborn!

Stubbornness and the refusal to comply with the modern demands and requirements have already wrecked Pakistan hockey — the sport that brought no less than four World Cup titles.

Pakistan cricket too reeks of stubbornness, apathy and the sheer inability to recognise the demands of present day cricket. Seeped in stale traditions; the players, coaches and the PCB hierarchy have steadily dug-up a massive hole.

The National Cricket Academy (NCA), boasting of world class facilities consists largely of clueless coaching staff— light years away from the present day trends and practices.

The spate of injuries to both the national players and the ones knocking at the door of selection is bordering on the ridiculous.

Head coach Waqar Younis believes in giving the players a real ‘raghra’ during the training sessions.

Mohammad Hafeez was bowled for a duck, Bangladesh v Pakistan, 2nd ODI, Mirpur, April 19, 2015. PHOTO: FILE/AFP

The rookies who break into the team find the rigours beyond their endurance level, some survive and others make it to the casualty list. Soon Waqar would run out of players to give the ‘raghra’ to.

After the T20 loss The Express Tribune reported that Waqar and spin bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed were flabbergasted. The duo were compelled to ask the players what they actually wanted and why they weren’t willing to deploy the game plan. Does it mean that the cracks that appeared during the World Cup are widening?

Moving on to the functionaries at the PCB; the men slotted as directors or chairmen are simply the most obdurate men around.

Most were beyond their retirement age at the dawn of the new millennium, 15 years into the millennium the ‘seniors’ still hobble their way to work and huff and puff in their well decorated and air-conditioned rooms.

Pakistan might lose to Uganda next but the ‘think tank’ won’t push the panic button. Despite repeated calls from almost every quarter the golden oldies remain nonplussed. Their motto it seems is to ‘serve’ Pakistan cricket till their last breadth and unfortunately they really are taking their motto/vow religiously.

The chairman was one of the most respected diplomats in his hey days but at the PCB he continues to infuriate with his incessant U-turns. He has time and again refused to let go off the ‘diplomatic ways’ when some daring decision making is mandatory.

Perhaps it is unfair to even expect the octogenarian to change his ways but equally exasperating is the fact that he refuses to acknowledge that running the game is now well and truly beyond his advancing years.

After the World Cup loss, the chairman sacked Moin Khan and his selection committee claiming that Moin was sent to the World Cup without his consent and after the ‘casino scandal’ he was left with no option but to call him back.

The ludicrous explanation made a real laughing stock of the board and the chairmen. The Ijaz Butt days might be over but our esteemed seniors and their cohorts continue to amuse all. Perhaps, they feel duty bound to provide some entertainment amid the callous failure of the cricket team.

While Azhar Ali bore the brunt of the detractors for his ‘poor captaincy’ the critics pinning their hope on Shahid Afridi were silenced by the equally drab and listless T20 performance under Boom Boom last Friday.

Mustafizur Rahman is congratulated after dismissing Shahid Afridi, Bangladesh v Pakistan, Only T20I, Dhaka, April 24, 2015. PHOTO: FILE/AFP

PCB needs to realise that cosmetic surgery alone would do nothing to fix the cricket ailment as the bout of repeated failures is taking the game on the verge of a complete collapse. Perhaps, like the Bangla-wash, the PCB must be clean swept too.