For Pakistan's history of Fast Bowling you have to go back to Fazal Mahmood and Khan Mohammad.Thats the template on which Pakistan cricket was built.While Indian cricket was built on Vijay Merchant Vijay Hazare, Vinoo Mankad.
Great players are not only required to win matches, they are also the role models and heroes of the next generation.
Gavaskar was influenced by the Mumbai batting legacy, he inspired Tendulkar, Tendulkar inspired Kohli. Laxman was inspired by Azhar and Azhar was influenced by Vishwanath.
Fazal Mahmood and co. inspired Imran he the 2 Ws and they a Shoaib Akhtar. who is the next inspiration?Amir?Talha?Rao Ifthikar?
Do you believe that somewhere the batting drought in Pakistan may be due to the fact that people followed Shahid Afridi and not a MoYo or YK or Anwar? This is exactly what i am talking about, if decent becomes your hero then mediocrity will follow.
No thats wrong.Good test quality batsman are equally hard to produce. Pakistan must first look at preserving its waning strength and look into why there is no Pakistani who is scaring the batsman out with 150k Thunderbolts. Simultaneously they must look to get the next get of Pakistani batsman to follow good role models in batsmen. IK was very effusive in his praise for Gavaskar, asking his batsman to look how he played and follow it. The Afridisque mentality has to be washed away.
I have said it in past i say it again, let there be a standstill agreement of 50yrs. No issue is going to be solved in next 20-30 years as long as the present 2-3 generations are ruling.They are too consumed by mistrust and either side doesnt trust the other to keep its part of the bargain.50 years of peace will give us a generation which will not be shackled by a bloody past.They wouldnot have seen a partition or a war or a terror attack.Let their wisdom decide the issues. I pray to live to see that day. God willing One day we will.