Pakistan Cricket Needs Revamping
A few days back Pakistan's skipper Shahid Afridi said that he would not tolerate "politics" in the team. Comrade Afridi should realize that men from his land - the patch of earth sandwiched between the nations, India and Afghanistan - have always been revolutionaries, political radicals, smash-the-system sort of cricketers.
Now, since Pakistani players are humans, they inevitably wrangle and plan and vow oaths on holy books against team skippers.
Just like taxation is thought to be theft, Pakistani cricketers mostly spot fielding for the good of the team as an unfair contravention on their individual rights. Just like it is the hidden monsters we call governments that send people on war to kill each other, Pakistani cricketers follow the rational need to never adhere to orders. Nobody has the right to tell them what to do; neither Ijaz Butt, or for that matter, the captain of the team. Not even the batting partner screaming at the other end "Yes, yes, RUN, I said YES! RUN!"
Pakistani team has always been a squad of individuals, unified by a common cause but not due to respect for higher authority. Sometimes these individuals prove to be brilliant and the team has done well in phases. And at times –better to say often - these individuals have been below par and the team has lost to the underdogs of underdogs. Ireland and Bangladesh would know that pretty well.
Since Imran Khan’s retirement in 1992, Pakistan has tried 14 different Test captains, a clear example of power-distribution along with the true influence of players’ power, which is possible only under their anarcho-syndicalism model. Australia, as compared with Pakistan, has had only four Test captains since the retirement of Allan Border in 1994. The Pakistani team seems to be a group of power-hungry, undemocratic capitalists exposed to lawlessness. Don’t say they have tempered the ball or fixed matches or taken any prohibited drug, they have never.
The conditions prevailing in Pakistan cricket, performance of the team, the manners and conduct of the players, the mistreatment of cricket issues by a mob of nincompoops born with a golden spoon, the liaison between the management and the players and the lack of trust and confidence between them and our rapidly declining reputation in the world cricket, all put together will point out that the dealings of Pakistan cricket are in the hands of incompetent, inefficient, corrupt along with the most clueless persons holding respected positions in the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).
The officials and the players are the two parties that need to be intimately knit to develop cricket in any country and create a squad of world beaters. To eradicate the evils that exist in Pakistan cricket and are accountable for denigrating the nation, some fundamental measures are required to be taken. The situation is quite complex, neither the team can be dispersed nor the inefficient, incompetent and corrupt bunch of PCB (non) managers having dug themselves deep into the basement can be shown the door.
Well-organized handling of the matters by the team management and the board and their affiliation with the players is a key factor which can lead to first-class performance of the team. With the elements of abhorrence, lack of trust, squabbling, injustice, indiscipline, disunity, splitting up of players in groups and other such issues prevailing in the dressing room, the team can never have vivid hopes of progress and prosperity in the cricket world. To put the team on sturdy footing and enable the guys to touch the climax of performance and bring glory to the country, it is utterly essential to build a happy cricketing atmosphere that is not at all possible under the existing set up of Pakistan Cricket. It can only be attained by a complete revamp of the system and its functions.
Tags: