International cricket hiatus in Pakistan after 2009 until the revival of it has led to Pakistan cricket's subsequent downfall

[FearlessRoar]

In my opinion, Pakistan's cricket team is struggling due to their prolonged absence from international cricket at home from 2009 to 2015. This hiatus hindered their skill development and tactical evolution, as they missed opportunities to adapt to diverse playing styles and strategies of top teams. The absence also denied them the chance to learn from their mistakes, develop innovative tactics, and acclimate to pressure in a home setting.

Playing at home is crucial for building confidence in front of a home crowd and understanding pitch requirements. Pakistan's extended absence from home internationals has likely contributed to their current struggles with pressure and tactics. To regain their footing, they must address these strategic shortcomings and revive international cricket at home. By doing so, they can develop the skills and tactics necessary to compete at the highest level.

I wanted to bring attention to the fact that we are witnessing the downfall of Pakistan cricket, which has been evident in their recent losses. This includes their defeat to Afghanistan in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, their loss to the USA in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, and their recent series loss to Bangladesh at home. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Pakistan became one dimensionial during that period as they kept on playing in UAE. That was also the reason that they always struggled away from home in that period

 

[Varun]

Threy were pretty shoddy at home even before this period. Series losses to Australia, India, South Africa, England, Sri Lanka, poor World Cups in 2003 and 2007 etc.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Many reasons. One is loss of Individuals due to various reasons (fixing, illegal action banning) left a void which they could not fill. Since the retirement of Afridi and banning of Ajmal they have lost their middle over control. Yasir shah while he was with them was somewhat a decent match winner. Now spin department is empty. Due to increase in T20 leagues players started focusing on those leagues as PSL money is not enough. Pakistan problem is transition problem. They never built bench strength. Warning signs should have been noticed a decade back. They were blinded by T20 success, ranking et al a format which doesn't truly reflect the health of your cricketing system. Almost all teams that don't have bench strength will go through this.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Ravichandran Ashwin on his YouTube channel lamented the downfall of Pakistan cricket after series loss against Bangladesh:

"Keeping all this aside, Pakistan cricket, to see where it is right now, it wasn't possible 10 years ago with Misbah, Younis Khan, even when they used to play in UAE. Back then, it was very tough to beat Pakistan, right? You had the likes of Yasir Shah, you had the likes of a couple of left-arm spinners coming in. All these guys, to where they are right now, I cannot believe it."

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"I feel terribly bad for somebody named Shaan Masood. I will tell you why. Shaan Masood is a very smart cricketer. I know that guy. He speaks a lot of sense. He can be a really good captain for Pakistan."

"But handling a Pakistan cricket team at this point of time, where somebody like Babar Azam is not the captain and he is a poster boy for Pakistan, it cannot be an easy dressing room, right?"

"Genuinely speaking, Pakistan cricket's history, Waqar Younis, Wasim Akram, Shoaib Akhtar, Imran Khan, Inzamam ul Haq, Ijaz Ahmed, Salim Malik. I can just keep on going on. This legacy, Saeed Anwar, Aamir Sohail, what legacy that country and that cricket team have?"

"Extraordinary turn of events for Bangladesh"

 

[Buffet]

Pakistan had a huge decline at home from Mid 90s to Mid 00s as well.

W/L - 1.1 ( 1995 - 2004 )

Lost series at home agaisnt : SL, Zim, Ind, SA, Eng, Aus

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

Pakistan had a huge decline at home from Mid 90s to Mid 00s as well.

W/L - 1.1 ( 1995 - 2004 )

Lost series at home agaisnt : SL, Zim, Ind, SA, Eng, Aus

match fixing bonanza during bilaterals at the time. Only meaningful data in this period is from world cups.

 

[Nikhil_cric]

They were losing plenty even before moving to the UAE, especially in Test cricket.

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

You can see 2011 and 2015 are the last gasps before the collapse but the decline began in 2003.

 

[Buffet]

match fixing bonanza during bilaterals at the time. Only meaningful data in this period is from world cups.

I am not sure it was all due to match fixing because Pakistan had consistent same level of performane away before mid 90s and after mid 90s. Huge decline came only for home tests.

Mid 80s - Mid 90s W/L away 1
Mid 90s to Mid 00s W/L away 1

MId 80s - Mid 90s W/L home 6
Mid 90s - Mid 00s W/L home 1


Home performance took a huge nose dive and yet away was at same level.

 

[Buffet]

Here is World Cup record from mid 90s to Mid 00s. Pakistan W/L was around same level as WI and New Zealand. So Pakistan was not doing that great even in WC. But I think we shouldn't mix ODI and test format.

Pakistan started losing lots of test series against all kinds of teams starting mid 90s.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

You can see 2011 and 2015 are the last gasps before the collapse but the decline began in 2003.

View attachment 146079

The infighting appears to be one of the main reasons in PCT downfall

 

[mominsaigol]

In my opinion, Pakistan's cricket team is struggling due to their prolonged absence from international cricket at home from 2009 to 2015. This hiatus hindered their skill development and tactical evolution, as they missed opportunities to adapt to diverse playing styles and strategies of top teams. The absence also denied them the chance to learn from their mistakes, develop innovative tactics, and acclimate to pressure in a home setting.

Playing at home is crucial for building confidence in front of a home crowd and understanding pitch requirements. Pakistan's extended absence from home internationals has likely contributed to their current struggles with pressure and tactics. To regain their footing, they must address these strategic shortcomings and revive international cricket at home. By doing so, they can develop the skills and tactics necessary to compete at the highest level.

I wanted to bring attention to the fact that we are witnessing the downfall of Pakistan cricket, which has been evident in their recent losses. This includes their defeat to Afghanistan in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023, their loss to the USA in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, and their recent series loss to Bangladesh at home. What are your thoughts on this?

Wrong, Pakistan winning ct is proof that it isn't the case.

Pakistan was always a mid card team after the 1990's era ended.

You expected them to lose to India, Australia, SA and England.

Expected them to compete with NZ, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, West Indies and Afghanistan.

And expected them to demolish Zimbabwe, USA, Ireland and any other minnow side.

However the truth is Pakistan managed to punch > It's weight. 2012-2016 was a crap whiteball era but a scary strong test era while 2017 yielded trophies. 2018 was once again a crap year but 2019 yielded upsets against England, SA etc etc.

Cricket was also being played In pakistan during this time period, The final of 2016 psl was in pak, 2017 qualifiers were in pak, and all of 2019 psl was in pak. Then teams did tour as well and pakistan did usually win at home.

Its time to admit that Misbah, Naqvi, Imran Khan and Ramiz all damaged pak cricket all the way to its grassroot level. That's all that it is.

Pakistan is no longer a mid card team, their rubbish plain and simple. Has nothing to do with what's being claimed.

 

[The Bald Eagle]

May be it is the Mohsin Naqvi like characters who are behind this downfall

 

[The Bald Eagle]

Sourav Ganguly on Pakistan's cricket downfall:

"I see a genuine dearth of talent in the country. Every time we think of Pakistan, we remember Miandad, Wasim, Waqar, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Yousuf, and Younis Khan" .

"That's the memory of Pakistan for us, but that doesn’t win matches in the modern generation of cricket. Every generation has to produce outstanding players to win, and when I look at Pakistan in world cricket -- I saw them in the West Indies World Cup, in India during the World Cup, and now after the Bangladesh series loss -- there is a dearth of talent in that country,"

"The people connected with the sport in Pakistan will have to look into it. I'm not saying this with disrespect. Pakistan of the old had some great cricketers, which I don't see in this squad,"

 

[Major]

Pakistan became one dimensionial during that period as they kept on playing in UAE. That was also the reason that they always struggled away from home in that period

one dimensional?

How is that soo?

Pakistan drew with England in England and apart from Australia test series, they were not bad overseas aswell.

By that logic every team is one dimension as SENA teams fail to spin and Subcontinent teams fail to pace and bounce.

 

[Major]

The 2009 to 2017 Phase is something different. That phase caused our talent to be affected.

While you can say the current poor performance could be blamed to 2009 - 2017 but not entirely. The current problem started in 2021 when Rameez Raja was made PCB chairman, and after that one bad decision led to another.

Raja came in with a theory that you dont need coaches because in his 80s cricket, they didnt had coaches. The fitness regime that was adopted post Sarfraz's captaincy was all destroyed, and Pakistan team again decided forget fitness and do whatever you want.
No cricketing nation hires coaches on ad-hoc basis which Pakistan started to do under rameez. Infact, even our Hockey team started hiring adhoc basis coaches because of lack of funds.

Now Rameez is one of the faults, and after him many more came.

When there was a change in govt, this allowed every opportunist or loyalist of political parties to go to the PM and get favors. The 2010's Sethi and Zaka war was restarted and both were back again making dumb moves.

Again, Sethi and Zaka were change coaches, selectors and captains. Because both had Misbah as captain, they again wanted to bring someone like him. Sethi thought that because Misbah was educated, so lets go to the educated route and bring in Shan Masood. While Zaka on the other hand likes to be media savy so he trusted Babar but when results did not go Zaka's way, Zaka decided to leak Babar's msgs to ARY. Meanwhile, both these fulls even ended up agreeing to a Hybrid Asia cup which was a slap on the face of Pakistan Cricket that bowed down to BCCI and BJP.

This was another mess.

And than came, the Mr. Hulk Hogan called Mohsin Naqvi. Mohsin came in after Zaka made Shaheen the captain, and Shaheen showed his support for Imran Khan and to remove him they bought Naqvi in. It seemed like Zaka was reluctant to remove Shaheen.

So in comes Naqvi, who is now interested in clearing the image of army through Pakistan cricket. The fan favourite Babar is offered captaincy, who took it as soon as it was offered and did not care about the effect it will have on the team. Meanwhile Naqvi brings back an ex fixer, a dressing room smoker who is toxic and a fat wicket keeper, only because these are the players that are the fans favourite. He even goes one step extra and adds a UAE player to the team only because he made a cult for attacking Paksitan cricket when ever he performs.

All those 4 players fail at the World T20, lost to USA and even lost an India game that we should had won.

And here we are today losing a test series to Bangladesh

 

[Shoaib Akhtar 100 MPH]

Sourav Ganguly on Pakistan's cricket downfall:

"I see a genuine dearth of talent in the country. Every time we think of Pakistan, we remember Miandad, Wasim, Waqar, Saeed Anwar, Mohammad Yousuf, and Younis Khan" .

"That's the memory of Pakistan for us, but that doesn’t win matches in the modern generation of cricket. Every generation has to produce outstanding players to win, and when I look at Pakistan in world cricket -- I saw them in the West Indies World Cup, in India during the World Cup, and now after the Bangladesh series loss -- there is a dearth of talent in that country,"

"The people connected with the sport in Pakistan will have to look into it. I'm not saying this with disrespect. Pakistan of the old had some great cricketers, which I don't see in this squad,"

There is no doubt we don't have the calibre of players he played against however the problem we currently have is not identifying what players we want to play a certain style and then pick a profile that suits that like Bazball.

We still pick the old way hoping for new results.

That comes with stability but we change chairman & selectors like socks.

 

[mominsaigol]

The 2009 to 2017 Phase is something different. That phase caused our talent to be affected.

While you can say the current poor performance could be blamed to 2009 - 2017 but not entirely. The current problem started in 2021 when Rameez Raja was made PCB chairman, and after that one bad decision led to another.

Raja came in with a theory that you dont need coaches because in his 80s cricket, they didnt had coaches. The fitness regime that was adopted post Sarfraz's captaincy was all destroyed, and Pakistan team again decided forget fitness and do whatever you want.
No cricketing nation hires coaches on ad-hoc basis which Pakistan started to do under rameez. Infact, even our Hockey team started hiring adhoc basis coaches because of lack of funds.

Now Rameez is one of the faults, and after him many more came.

When there was a change in govt, this allowed every opportunist or loyalist of political parties to go to the PM and get favors. The 2010's Sethi and Zaka war was restarted and both were back again making dumb moves.

Again, Sethi and Zaka were change coaches, selectors and captains. Because both had Misbah as captain, they again wanted to bring someone like him. Sethi thought that because Misbah was educated, so lets go to the educated route and bring in Shan Masood. While Zaka on the other hand likes to be media savy so he trusted Babar but when results did not go Zaka's way, Zaka decided to leak Babar's msgs to ARY. Meanwhile, both these fulls even ended up agreeing to a Hybrid Asia cup which was a slap on the face of Pakistan Cricket that bowed down to BCCI and BJP.

This was another mess.

And than came, the Mr. Hulk Hogan called Mohsin Naqvi. Mohsin came in after Zaka made Shaheen the captain, and Shaheen showed his support for Imran Khan and to remove him they bought Naqvi in. It seemed like Zaka was reluctant to remove Shaheen.

So in comes Naqvi, who is now interested in clearing the image of army through Pakistan cricket. The fan favourite Babar is offered captaincy, who took it as soon as it was offered and did not care about the effect it will have on the team. Meanwhile Naqvi brings back an ex fixer, a dressing room smoker who is toxic and a fat wicket keeper, only because these are the players that are the fans favourite. He even goes one step extra and adds a UAE player to the team only because he made a cult for attacking Paksitan cricket when ever he performs.

All those 4 players fail at the World T20, lost to USA and even lost an India game that we should had won.

And here we are today losing a test series to Bangladesh

Shan isn't educated bro, I checked his linkeldn and did some digging after I saw his behaviour with the umpires and family history.

The UK classifies it's degrees via first class, 2:1, 2:2, lower 2nd class and ordinary.

If you check his linkeldn he dropped out from durham and then went onto Loughborough and did it entirely online distance and just received an ordinary degree which means 30% or above.

In UK if you apply for a job, the people over their almost always ask for a 2:2 minimum which is 50% and >. Outside UK in developed countries they'll check GPA, Top companies like tesla or Apple 100% ask foe 2:1 minimum. (Assuming you're a fresh graduate and don't have experience)

Even many of his jobs in hr were only internships which he quit?

Wikipedia has his info listed wrong, he isn't a master degree holder like Misbah is nor did he attend Loughborough in person and his degree that he received is an ordinary degree. An ordinary degree in UK means you failed more or less but managed to get 30% or above and just got through with your cresit score.

He was too busy playing cricket, Dropping out and then just doing it more or less a formality. The degree he's gotten from Loughborough is bottom of the barrel.

Check Job hunts in UK, all their requirements for any job which requires a degree is listed as 2:1 or 2:2 minimum or foreign equivalent.

Misbah is different, Misbah went to UET in person and got a proper degree, Shan's ordinary degree is something job hints will not accept unless he has some insane work experience in said field which he doesn't.

 

[Major]

Shan isn't educated bro, I checked his linkeldn and did some digging after I saw his behaviour with the umpires and family history.

The UK classifies it's degrees via first class, 2:1, 2:2, lower 2nd class and ordinary.

If you check his linkeldn he dropped out from durham and then went onto Loughborough and did it entirely online distance and just received an ordinary degree which means 30% or above.

In UK if you apply for a job, the people over their almost always ask for a 2:2 minimum which is 50% and >. Outside UK in developed countries they'll check GPA, Top companies like tesla or Apple 100% ask foe 2:1 minimum. (Assuming you're a fresh graduate and don't have experience)

Even many of his jobs in hr were only internships which he quit?

Wikipedia has his info listed wrong, he isn't a master degree holder like Misbah is nor did he attend Loughborough in person and his degree that he received is an ordinary degree. An ordinary degree in UK means you failed more or less but managed to get 30% or above and just got through with your cresit score.

He was too busy playing cricket, Dropping out and then just doing it more or less a formality. The degree he's gotten from Loughborough is bottom of the barrel.

Check Job hunts in UK, all their requirements for any job which requires a degree is listed as 2:1 or 2:2 minimum or foreign equivalent.

Misbah is different, Misbah went to UET in person and got a proper degree, Shan's ordinary degree is something job hints will not accept unless he has some insane work experience in said field which he doesn't.

man to be fair, its good enough in pakistan cricket. Alot of our cricketers arnt even 10th pass and play on fake docs

 

[mominsaigol]

man to be fair, its good enough in pakistan cricket. Alot of our cricketers arnt even 10th pass and play on fake docs

Ya but it's just online learning, he did get a degree after dropping out once and going to another uni, but it's the bare minimum really.

But yes he is a certified English speaker

 

[BouncerGuy]

Ya but it's just online learning, he did get a degree after dropping out once and going to another uni, but it's the bare minimum really.

But yes he is a certified English speaker

English speaking is not going to win us games. We need players who are brave and play for this country and not their personal gains or those who have a parchi in PCB.

Watching 2009 was like watching a good team if not great. Saeed Ajmal, Hafeez bowling in those years, Afridi, Amir, Asif, Razzaq. Many names that can win you games on their own.

 

[mominsaigol]

English speaking is not going to win us games. We need players who are brave and play for this country and not their personal gains or those who have a parchi in PCB.

Watching 2009 was like watching a good team if not great. Saeed Ajmal, Hafeez bowling in those years, Afridi, Amir, Asif, Razzaq. Many names that can win you games on their own.

Bro, can you quote me on the para or text where I said

" Shan masood is a goat English speaker, by using his fancy words he can channel his power into becoming the next Ricky Pointing"

Jokes aside, 2009 is a different era my dude, 2007 to 2009 were genuinely tough periods in t20 cricket for top side and unfortunately Australia, England, SA and many others had trouble adjuating.

in 2007 classic Australia lost to india, Zimbabwe, Pakistan and many others, 2009 was no different, Asian teams were the first to adjust which is why Asian teams made the finals and dominated that era.

In odi we still weren't anything special, Yes it's not as bad as it is now, but 2009 just like 2017-2019, we were still a mid card team, Pakistan has always been midcard.

We lost the aussie odi series in 2009 3-2, before the attack the srilankan series was tied 1-1, we beat WI in 2008 whitewashing them however sri lanka won the asia cup in 2008.

We were only top 3 along with India and sri lanka from 2007-2009, because other teams were struggling to adjust to the format. From 2010 onwards that was no longer the case.

 

[aqeelPK]

Rise of religious extremism post 9/11 destroyed our sports and entertainment industry. It took away cricket from international stadiums as well as the local community grounds. Majority of our society considers sports or any form of entertainment as Haram.

 

[aukhan]

Rise of religious extremism post 9/11 destroyed our sports and entertainment industry. It took away cricket from international stadiums as well as the local community grounds. Majority of our society considers sports or any form of entertainment as Haram.

+1
The country fell into the gutter due to the rise of religious extremism and doctrines. Growing up during that era, I saw many promising Pakistani bands go underground and stop public concerts because of khudkush threats. Music became an elite activity confined to secure areas and exclusive venues. Now look at Pakistan's music industry it peaked in 2005/2006 and was essentially dead by 2007.

Many clerics and ultra religious people in Pakistan as well as on social media, openly label cricket as haram, claiming it is a waste of time. Look at India wo poojtay hain art/film/music/cricket ko jabhi talent hi talent hai. We can never rule world cricket so forget that dream. Be happy with the little success we achieve, whether it's an occasional series or ICC tournament victory. We are a failed state that seems destined for doom.