Pakistan Cricket Team! Why It Is At Rock Bottom?
They are the most feared cricket team to face if they’re in full form, and the most pathetic opponents when not going through best of times, yet Pakistan have not been able to stake their claim on world cricket like powerhouses Australia, South Africa and even neighbours India.
The men in green have not been able to win a series in the last few years and won a Test match last year after a gap of more than 2 years. This is not a new test side or one that has to prove something, but the side which in the days of Wasim Akram and current coach Waqar Younis was at times unbeatable.
What has gone wrong with such a side is not the question. The question is why has it gone wrong, and the answer is clear and simple. Not only has Pakistan valued its heroes but has promoted incompetent individuals to run the cricket setup, people who were unable to find a place in the cricket team in their times.
People like Abdul Qadir, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saeed Anwar never retired on their own. They were asked to call it quits by the board even when they were in the best of forms of their careers. But who are these individuals that are calling the shots in the Pakistan’s cricket board? Are they cricketers even more huge in stature than Wasim Akram and Co.? Sadly, they are mere nobodies, and that’s what’s destroying Pakistan cricket.
The current board chairman Ijaz Butt hardly played cricket for Pakistan. Born in 1938, he played just 6 matches for his country as a wicket keeper between 1959 and 1962. He was later dropped to accommodate Imtiaz Ahmed who was not only a better batsman but a gloves man.
Similarly, Chief Operating Officer of the PCB Wasim Bari may have been a better wicket keeper but he managed to play for Pakistan due to no competitor for a long time, and hung his gloves after representing the side in the 70s and the 80s. His predecessor Salim Altaf was a swing bowler who was mostly out of the final XI than in it, during his playing days. People like Shafiq Ahmed Papa (6 Tests in the 70s), Salahuddin Ahmed (5 Tests in the 60s) and countless domestic cricket ‘champions’ have been part of the selection process
Despite never being selected themselves for more than a dozen matches, combined throughout their careers!
The ongoing week has been the worst crisis hit for Pakistan cricket, who lost to Australia in the semi final of Twenty20 World Cup after posting a mammoth target of 192 on the board! Pundits lambasted Shahid Afridi for asking off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to bowl the last over of the match, yet the board defended neither the skipper nor the bowler, or even came out with a logical explanation!
And then it was hit by the leaked video footage of PCB’s inquiry committee into the disastrous tour! The video tells a different story where Afridi claimed that the boys lose the game against Australia even before the start of the match just because of their recent streak of losses against the Oz. He also blasted the tactics of former captain and Coach Intikhab Alam who was part of the Australian squad as coach but did nothing to boost the morale of the boys who failed to clinch a single win.
Had someone saner than Ijaz Butt been the Chairman, he would have handled the matter differently and spoken about it, yet the Big Bear chooses to stay mum, proving his incompatibility in running the board.
Pakistan cricket needs a man with an iron fist to run it, not someone who needs assistance to even move his fist. The 70-odd year old chairman needs to go if Pakistan is to survive as a passionate cricket nation. Otherwise, the day when Bangladesh wins a Test match against Pakistan or an ODI series is anything, but far!
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