As spring returns to Pakistan, so does the national cricket board’s zealous craving to clean house. Shahid Afridi recently stepped down as captain of the Twenty20 (T20) squad after being called everything from “clueless” to a “flu” that ailed his charges’ match awareness. Ditto head coach, Waqar Younis, once he realised the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) was looking for a fall guy to save its own skin, and all signs pointed to him. The PCB also axed the national selection committee, much to the establishment man and chief selector, Haroon Rasheed’s surprise. No worries here, as he will soon find his way back to the Gaddafi Stadium. That is Rasheed’s and, indeed, team manager, Intikhab Alam’s, secret talent. The plucky wicket-keeper, Sarfraz Ahmed, an outsider in Younis’s coaching era even when part of the playing 11, replaces Afridi as the T20 skipper. Meanwhile, 1990s stalwarts and vocal critics of the current PCB regime, Wasim Akram and Rameez Raja will help the board find a new coach.
In the wake of Pakistan’s dismal Asia Cup and World T20 performances, pundits and ex-players alike are dishing out the same trope they have for the last two decades: Pakistan’s domestic structure is a dinosaur, raze it to the ground and start over. The Green-Shirts are chronically unfit, and they need a boot camp with the army. We need professionals running the PCB, not ruling party lackeys. All fair points, but ones lost to selective amnesia when any of them become board employees.
To its credit, the PCB is never stoic in defeat. If anything, it has an ever-ready panic button that sees plenty of action. Reportedly, Pakistan’s first-class structure again faces overhaul to make it more competitive. There is even talk of creating a post of director of cricket, like that in England, to serve as a conduit between selectors and team management. Like all good bureaucracies, however, the board will announce many committees that will surely take their sweet time to no consequence. I personally will salute the PCB even if all it does between now and the 2019 ODI World Cup is to find a solid opening pair.
That said, the explanations offered by the PCB bosses, Shahryar Khan and Najam Sethi, apropos the sorry state of Pakistan cricket are not far-fetched. There is little doubt that the complete absence of international cricket on local grounds since 2009 has steepened the learning curve for up and comers plying their trade with domestic teams. Whereas touring sides once exposed these young cricketers to top-grade skills in warm-up games, such opportunities ran dry after the Sri Lankan team attack, and the Green-Shirts’ subsequent exile to the Emirates.
This is where the Pakistan Super League (PSL) despite its goof-ups in the inaugural edition is indispensable. Playing alongside the game’s superstars will help local talent level up their chops, and learn how to handle clutch moments. Patience, though, is key. As the former England great and Quetta Gladiator, Kevin Pietersen, pleaded with Pakistani fans recently: “Give your players a season or two to figure out consistency!” Pietersen, a veteran of India’s trailblazing Indian Premier League (IPL), should know. India is now a crack fielding unit with deep bench strength primarily due to the IPL.
We all know that Pakistan cricket has serious problems. The team is allegedly beset with cliques and problem children like Ahmed Shahzad and Umar Akmal who do not follow the captain’s script. More alarmingly, both the coach and management spotlit these issues to the PCB after last year’s ODI world cup, but the latter contentedly twiddled its thumbs. In contrast, Darren Sammy’s West Indies despite having their own mountain of worries is the new T20 champ.
As evidenced by Sammy’s stirring post-finals speech, the Calypso men are at odds with their cricket board and players association. Many of their continent-hopping T20 league superstars, like Sammy, Dwayne Bravo and Andre Russell, do not feature in ODI and test fixtures. The West Indies may even have a first-class structure worse than that of Pakistan. Their strong school cricket allows them to compete with distinction in Under-19 events, but the growth chart plateaus afterwards. Unsurprisingly, then, the West Indies like Pakistan keeps going back to old rejects and inconsistent performers.
There is, however, a simple reason why this troubled team triumphed in India while Pakistan crashed out of the Super 10s. The Sammy-led West Indies plays with enormous pride, relishing each other’s company. They have embraced the uncertain, whereas the Green-Shirts fear it. Why? Probably thanks to the PCB’s game of musical chairs that passes for team selection. One minute Khurram Manzoor is in, and Ahmed Shehzad out. A few failed outings later, the former is persona non grata with a one-way ticket to obscurity. How can anyone foster self-belief in such a toxic workplace culture? That goes against both human nature and common sense.
The writer is a freelance columnist and audio engineer based in Islamabad