Cricket in Pakistan faces leadership crisis
Pakistan cricket is a rudderless ship drifting from one crisis to the next. Its crew members continue to fight amongst themselves like cats and dogs. In doing so, they leave Pakistan cricket in a world of uncertainty and inconsistency. Perhaps, the most
important crisis Pakistan cricket is facing at the moment, is a leadership crisis.
It is due to the internal politics in the unit or can be a spot fixing controversy. Whenever, someone is made a captain, he has become a victim of mean politics imposed by his squad members. There will be a rebellion against a leader, if he wants to guide
his side to the top. It is because the skipper wants to impose his best 11 on the opposition, to get the best results in favor of his team.
Some players in the team can’t help the winning cause, and they are threatened to be thrown out of the team. So the only way for them, to be in the playing eleven is by means of internal politics and denting the team’s integrity. That is why Pakistan has
lost many cricket matches from winning positions.
Furthermore, Players of the playing squad deliberately underperform in order to fail a captain. There have been several examples of it.
Mohammad Yousuf was the first one to leave the captaincy job, this year. The star Middle order batsman was made captain for the New Zealand tour, following the controversial resignation of Younis Khan. The tour comprised of three Test matches. The first
stint wasn’t bad for Yousuf as Pakistan drew 1-1 with Kiwis. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754’s tour then followed the Australian tour.
Pakistan got a hammering at the hands of Australia in every single match of all formats under the captaincy of Yousuf in 2009/10. Pakistan Cricket Board placed an inquiry committee to identify the causes of underperforming in Australia.
Moreover, the results of inquiry showed that players deliberately underperformed to remove Yousuf from the captaincy job. PCB, rather than giving Mohammad Yousuf definite support, handed him an indefinite ban.
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Shahid-Afridi-c2482 was appointed captain to support the sinking ship of Pakistan cricket. He led the team to the ICC World T20 semi-final, which Pakistan lost to Australia, in the last over as Michael Hussey stole the required 18 runs off Saeed Ajmal. Afridi’s
captaincy was given an extended run as Pakistan failed to qualify for the Asia Cup final.
Afridi was about to make a comeback in Test cricket on the recently concluded England tour. Pakistan started the tour brilliantly by beating Australia 2-0 in T20 series. But the aggressive all-rounder faced bigger challenges against Australia in a 2 match
Test series.
The Lord’s Test against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 marked comeback for Captain Shahid Afridi, after four years. Pakistan, again suffered a hammering at the hands of Australia by 150 runs. Afterwards, Afridi resigned from the job, suggesting that he is not good enough to
play Test cricket, but there were some speculations that there is another reason for his retirement from Test cricket.
Furthermore, Salman Butt, the vice captain on the England tour became an automatic choice to lead the depleted Pakistan side. The 2nd Test at Leeds marked an ideal start for Butt as Pakistan beat Australia after 15 years in Test cricket. The
Australian series was then followed by the England series.
Pakistan lost their first two Test matches against England by huge margins.
The Oval Test proved to be successful for Pakistanis as they beat England by 4 wickets, going into the fourth Test at Lord’s, with a higher level of confidence. A hurricane was about to come.
Three Pakistani cricketers, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Amir and the Captain Salman Butt found themselves at the centre of a spot fixing scandal at Lord’s. As a result, after the conclusion of the match, the trio has been suspended to take further part in cricket.
Pakistan needed a Test captain to lead them against their next opponents, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 in U.A.E.
The latest and perhaps most important crisis to hit http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Misbah-ul-Haq-c1972.
It is not the first time in a year that the administrators of the ad-hoc PCB have changed a captain. Pakistan cricket is reeling from a leadership crisis that threatens to sink the future of cricket in Pakistan.
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