Daily Times

LAHORE: International Cricket Council (ICC) president Zaheer Abbas has said a lack of opportunities and exposure has landed Pakistan cricket in hot waters. “Our players are not getting the right opportunities and exposure,” said Abbas on Tuesday. “They are also not in the Indian Premier League. I feel sorry for the young players who can’t play international cricket or against touring sides at home.” The ‘Asian Bradman’ expressed his concern that Pakistan cricket has stopped producing legends for the young players to look up to. “For a country which has a rich cricketing history and legacy, it saddens me to see the state of affairs today. It is sad that a country which has produced so many legends now has to even think about playing in qualifying rounds of an ICC event,” he added. Abbas said it pained me to see that the national team was now not producing quality performances of the past. “Our players are just not producing the sort of performances we expect and saw in the past. In the past our youngsters had a lot of idols and legends to look up to and emulate and today we look towards the Indian players.”

The 68-year-old, who will step down from his ICC post on July 27 after one-year tenure, said Pakistan cricket had still not recovered from the aftereffects of the attack on the Sri Lankan team in 2009. “It will take time for international cricket to return to Pakistan and lot depends on what the situation is in the country in future. But I am optimistic that in this context the scenario is improving.” He said he had enjoyed his tenure as ICC President and learnt a lot. “I have done all I can to help the Pakistan Cricket Board convince other boards they need to support Pakistan cricket by sending their teams and things are looking up a bit.”

‘Pak-India cricket relations essential for growth of game’: Abbas congratulated the newly-elected president of Indian Cricket Board Anurag Thakur. In his telephonic conversation with the BCCI president, Abbas highlighted the need of relations between Pakistan and Indian cricket boards. “The cordial relations between the two boards are essential for the growth of cricket in the region,” he added. Sharing the details of his talk with Anurag, the ICC chief told reporters that Indian players should also be part of Pakistan Super League (PSL) in future. “Anurag has invited me to witness remaining IPL matches. And if I went India, I will talk about Pakistan players’ participation in IPL tournament. The participation of Pakistan players will be beneficial for the Indian cricket event,” he elaborated.

Abbas said there was great following of Pakistan-India matches across the world but there were some issues that created hurdles in materialising these matches. “The bilateral matches between the two countries will be of great significance for the future relations of the two neighbours,” he said.