RedwoodOriginal
Senior T20I Player
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2018
- Runs
- 18,092
- Post of the Week
- 4
Currently the Pakistani domestic structure is a sham. Teams like SNGPL, SSGC, WAPDA poach all the big players while the regional teams are left to fend for themselves and have to rely solely on talented but inexperienced players to win them games. The gulf in experience and quality is simply too much which more often than not results in mismatches. It's quite remarkable that teams like Peshawar are able to win any games at all given the contrast in infrastructure and facilities between them and SNGPL or SSGC.
Regions are supposed to be bedrocks of talent generation and they are in nearly every country in the world except Pakistan. Here regions have little to no power, horrendous infrastructure,facilities and are consistently overshadowed by departments. Only a few young players from regional teams get noticed whereas, in reality there are many more who are either going unnoticed because they play for Lahore Whites or Multan or being wasted on the bench of a departmental team that already has too many big names in the first team.
I'm not trying to discount everything departmental cricket has done for Pakistan but the reason it exists is because it was a nifty way to get players paid as well while also establishing a proper means of income for them during a time when paying players was beginning to become an issue for Kardar and the PCB. Now a number of players don't have to rely solely on domestic cricket earnings because of the emergence of PSL, and there's no reason that the departments can't still continue their association with domestic cricket by sponsoring teams. However, empowering and restructuring the regional associations should remain the top priority.
Ultimately, the answer lies in a 5-6 team tournament with another division featuring the smaller associations. And a promotion/relegation system to actually give some context to the positions. Honestly, it's high time that the PCB and anyone who cares about domestic cricket got over their departmental cricket hangover. The PCB in particular needs to realize that the constant interventions to first-class structures have done more damage to Pakistan cricket than benefit and the supposed restructuring that will come next should be the final one and one, that actually possesses the ability to improve Pakistani domestic cricket.
Regions are supposed to be bedrocks of talent generation and they are in nearly every country in the world except Pakistan. Here regions have little to no power, horrendous infrastructure,facilities and are consistently overshadowed by departments. Only a few young players from regional teams get noticed whereas, in reality there are many more who are either going unnoticed because they play for Lahore Whites or Multan or being wasted on the bench of a departmental team that already has too many big names in the first team.
I'm not trying to discount everything departmental cricket has done for Pakistan but the reason it exists is because it was a nifty way to get players paid as well while also establishing a proper means of income for them during a time when paying players was beginning to become an issue for Kardar and the PCB. Now a number of players don't have to rely solely on domestic cricket earnings because of the emergence of PSL, and there's no reason that the departments can't still continue their association with domestic cricket by sponsoring teams. However, empowering and restructuring the regional associations should remain the top priority.
Ultimately, the answer lies in a 5-6 team tournament with another division featuring the smaller associations. And a promotion/relegation system to actually give some context to the positions. Honestly, it's high time that the PCB and anyone who cares about domestic cricket got over their departmental cricket hangover. The PCB in particular needs to realize that the constant interventions to first-class structures have done more damage to Pakistan cricket than benefit and the supposed restructuring that will come next should be the final one and one, that actually possesses the ability to improve Pakistani domestic cricket.
