Daily Times

I do not like being cynical and exasperated. I really don’t. But, over the last few weeks, chief selector, Haroon Rashid, and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), have got every major decision utterly, hopelessly wrong. First, they alienated the vast majority of fans by making a mockery of the selection for the Asia Cup. Then, PCB astounded the world with the ridiculous appointment of a special committee to evaluate the Asia Cup performance on the basis of the team performance being terrible this time. And now, surprise, surprise, they have recalled Ahmed Shehzad by stating that the opener had shown a return in form in the Pakistan Super League (PSL), with Rashid admitting that Manzoor’s inclusion was a gamble that ‘backfired’ in the Asia Cup. Well, I suppose, they give a hoot to what others think and they could not care any less.

All the selectors are good men; but they are still utterly unsuitable for their job. Being a selector, at least an adequate one, requires the availability to watch key players perform on different days, at appropriate times of the season; and an unarguable impartiality. None of the selectors can meet either of the requirements, let alone both. A big part of a selector’s job is to examine the current form of prospective players, immediately before Pakistan squads are announced. This requires the ability to drive around the country at a moment’s notice to observe different players. As a matter of fact, they are largely incapable of fulfilling their duty as selectors. They are frequently not present to watch the players that they need to watch, at the time they should be watching them. Instead, they often rely on second and third-hand evidence; reading the newspapers, and checking scores on internet.

The whole situation is far too messy. Indeed, one wonders why good men like Majid Khan and Asif Iqbal would even want to put themselves in this awkward position. So much so, when Abdul Qadir stepped down as chairman of selectors, he explicitly advised the PCB never to make the same mistake again. Unsurprisingly, however, the PCB has, once again, decided to ignore all criticism, and tell the rest of the world to go hang.

It seems to me that there are only two explanations behind such illogical and divisive appointments. The first being that everyone actually wants to be a selector these days and the PCB is a real cashpoint to do the job. The second reason is the role of selectors, which has dramatically changed now. Maybe, they are not actually required to watch players repeatedly anymore? Maybe, having your ear to the ground, possessing a large number of contacts on your mobile is enough? Of course, this argument is clearly inadequate if you look at how the modern cricket has evolved. These days’ test teams lean on a mountain of stats and analysis of players. Attention to detail is portrayed as everything. It seems counterintuitive that selecting players for Pakistan would require less primary evidence than any other job within the Pakistan camp.

The bottom line is that the selectors cannot make sound decisions about players until and unless they are appointed on merit. Having extensive experience of international cricket is not the only decisive factor, but it surely helps, or have we gotten it all wrong again? I suppose, Mr Khan thinks that we should just move on. Pakistan is teeming with talent. They could name countless players who would easily qualify for consideration. So why on earth are Khan and company making such a hash of it? The selection committee has to be made accountable. They are doing Pakistan cricket a great disservice.

Pakistan is heading to the T20 World Cup in India with all the attention on their captain and his form, which is quite worrying. The issue with Shahid Afridi, I am afraid, is the same as it was when he started playing for Pakistan. We are talking about a senior world-class all-rounder; a player whose stats stood in comparison to the best, but one, who has now failed to even score in double figures, in the just concluded Asia cup in Bangladesh. If Afridi was a leader similar to Imran Khan, you might understand Pakistan’s desire to keep him at the helm in T20 cricket; but is it worth including him for his bowling since he cannot be a batsman?

The loyalty of the selectors is admirable in many ways, too; but it has led to issues, not least whether the captain is worth his place in the side. In the latest that we have heard, Afridi walked to the PCB chairman, and told him how he was leaving Salman Butt out. But Butt could have been forgiven for thinking: ‘Hang on, why are you still in the side?’

If the World Cup was not in the sub-continent, there is no reason why Afridi should have been captain—it is all too obvious what would happen; but as the venue is India, he might do reasonably well. It is whether it is enough in the modern world of T20 cricket for Pakistan to reach the latter stages, and as it stands the selectors are simply left hoping that it will be ‘all right on the night’.

It would be too much of a gamble to replace him now. It should have happened months ago, of course, and more dynamic players should have been given the time to bed into the side, but Pakistan does not have much to lose now. It is a question of whether they want to rock the boat and hurt the captain that they have put such store in, by admitting they were wrong and giving the captaincy to Sarfraz Ahmed or, at a push, Umar Akmal. Perhaps, the selectors wanted to stay loyal to their T20 side, and we were all grateful for it, but it didn’t work for us at all in Bangladesh, and you have to say the odds are against it working for Pakistan now.

It was so obvious that the PCB had to purge not only to satisfy angry fans and critics, but to also show they are proactive. Khurram Manzoor was the perfect scapegoat because that does mask a lot of problems, which are just as serious as his lack of runs.

The writer is a professor of psychiatry and consultant forensic psychiatrist in the UK. He can be contacted at fawad_shifa@yahoo.com