Daily Times

Confirming his retirement from One Day Internationals on Tuesday, outgoing captain Misbahul Haq came down hard on critics for putting all the blame for the team’s failure in the World Cup on him. He lambasted certain TV critics and analysts for passing sarcastic remarks on his performance. He said that he was not responsible for every blunder of the team. The tragedy with the Pakistan cricket team is that it has to fight at a number of fronts besides facing rival teams. It has to sustain unnecessary as well as irresponsible media hype, poor handling of cricket affairs by the management, selection problems, players’ internal rifts and last but not the least pressure from almost 18 million cricket lovers who cannot accept defeat and are always ready to humiliate their heroes if they fail to perform. This causes utter disappointment among many talented players. In this situation, a captain’s responsibility becomes very tough, especially when he has no authority to select a player for his team. There is a lack of maturity and planning on the part of those sitting at the helm of affairs of cricket. As indicated by Misbah, the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) might face a bigger challenge regarding the selection of a new caption of the team now. The PCB chairman has offered Misbah to continue the captaincy but he is not ready to become a scapegoat any more. He has been a victim of severe criticism for the last few years despite maintaining a good batting average. Misbah scored 5,122 runs from 162 ODIs. His average of 44.82 as captain is the best for any Pakistan player. He has been the most successful captain of Pakistan. On many occasions, he single-handedly rescued the team from the clutches of defeat.

Every defeat carries a lesson and we should be positive in our approach. Pakistan needs to develop a sportsmans spirit. There is a need to reorganise the domestic cricket structure at the local level. The PCB must focus on the team’s flaws related to batting and fielding that caused its failure in the World Cup. There is no dearth of talent in Pakistan. There is a need to channellise the potential positively. The PCB and the nation need to change their approach for reviving the game of cricket in Pakistan. It has become a norm in Pakistan that senior players are humiliated at the end of their careers. All senior players must be given an honourable send-off. The PCB should carry out an overall scrutiny of the team and focus on its weaknesses. There must be a restraint on uncalled for media hype that plays havoc with the morale of the team. We need to build cricket nurseries where future players could be groomed and nurtured for the growth of this gentleman’s game in Pakistan. *