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Local Club Star
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In the past 5 years we have seen a stable/steady PCB turn overnight into a mercurial board and this has been quite evident in the performance, attitude and off field antics of players as well. We had a stable build up of Pakistan side during Wasim Khan then into Ramiz era. Post political turmoil in Pakistan and when PCB chairman's seat became hot game of going round and round Pakistan eventually became a mercurial side.
Some of the things to point out in both of these respective era.
1. Player roles - In organised side under Babar we had very little role changes and these were largely defined and Babar always stuck to plan. To his criticism Babar lacked originality and would still stick to plan in face of appropriate thrashing too (case in point his adamance in use of Haris Rauf in powerplay and since his opening spell the opposition never looks back). In Mercurial side the roles and responsibilities are versatile as there is no definite plan in fact the starting XI is largely debatable too. I want to add player management in here too, under organised era there were more cricketers retired/playing leagues than for national team due to attitude. Whilst in Mercurial era we have had more available players as everyone's welcome but a far longer list of injured players (perhaps this is what happens when a political doctor is appointed).
2. Team harmony - Under organised era we surprisingly had a very good team harmony with little to no cases of reported infighting. In fact we saw current players immediately jumping to Babar's defence with full zeal and support. Under Mercurial era where the Chairman himself is not safe by any means then how can captain be. I have significant doubt that Shaheen would retain captaincy for T20I WC (would be surprised to see him get the chop in less than 6 months and with only 1 bilateral in the middle).
3. Infighting / politicising - Under organised era we had very little political appointments and surprisingly the infighting was little to not reported this helped with team harmony. Under Mercurial era we have had A-Z administrative appointments all political (even the team doctor was changed on political grounds). We have already seen Shahid Afridi campaigning with Shareefs for Shaheen's captaincy, Faheem and Umar Akmal meeting with PMLN to find favours, PCB Chairman campaigning for military style training for cricket team (all signs for a political drive).
4. History of performances - Under organised era Pakistan would regularly feature in semi-finals or finals of the tournaments (T20I WCs) in recent era. Whilst our performances were consistent enough we didn't had the X factor to get over the line. Under Mercurial era Pakistan is eliminated before the semi-finals. However history suggests that our trophy wins have largely come in Mercurial era i.e. CT, T20I WC and even '92 WC was a mercurial era. Its either boom or bust with mercurial era with more bust than boom.
We can add much more points for discussion to the post above for Organised vs Mercurial era. In my personal opinion an organised side has a much longer shelf life and more chances at winning more trophies in the long-run. The mercurial side will be flash in pan with one trophy win in a decade or more. The worrying sign will be that our losses will be much more shameful with many first round exits. A mercurial side would have been acceptable until mid 90s post 2000s a lot more coaching, strategies, technology and ideally specialists are now associated with game of cricket. Hence relying on a 90s era approach that we simply need one raw talent bowler or batter to make it work is no longer going to yield any results. Well that is my personal opinion and a lot of people on here will differ from that which is fine.
Given we are now in a mercurial era we need to accept that and support our team in the upcoming tournaments.
Some of the things to point out in both of these respective era.
1. Player roles - In organised side under Babar we had very little role changes and these were largely defined and Babar always stuck to plan. To his criticism Babar lacked originality and would still stick to plan in face of appropriate thrashing too (case in point his adamance in use of Haris Rauf in powerplay and since his opening spell the opposition never looks back). In Mercurial side the roles and responsibilities are versatile as there is no definite plan in fact the starting XI is largely debatable too. I want to add player management in here too, under organised era there were more cricketers retired/playing leagues than for national team due to attitude. Whilst in Mercurial era we have had more available players as everyone's welcome but a far longer list of injured players (perhaps this is what happens when a political doctor is appointed).
2. Team harmony - Under organised era we surprisingly had a very good team harmony with little to no cases of reported infighting. In fact we saw current players immediately jumping to Babar's defence with full zeal and support. Under Mercurial era where the Chairman himself is not safe by any means then how can captain be. I have significant doubt that Shaheen would retain captaincy for T20I WC (would be surprised to see him get the chop in less than 6 months and with only 1 bilateral in the middle).
3. Infighting / politicising - Under organised era we had very little political appointments and surprisingly the infighting was little to not reported this helped with team harmony. Under Mercurial era we have had A-Z administrative appointments all political (even the team doctor was changed on political grounds). We have already seen Shahid Afridi campaigning with Shareefs for Shaheen's captaincy, Faheem and Umar Akmal meeting with PMLN to find favours, PCB Chairman campaigning for military style training for cricket team (all signs for a political drive).
4. History of performances - Under organised era Pakistan would regularly feature in semi-finals or finals of the tournaments (T20I WCs) in recent era. Whilst our performances were consistent enough we didn't had the X factor to get over the line. Under Mercurial era Pakistan is eliminated before the semi-finals. However history suggests that our trophy wins have largely come in Mercurial era i.e. CT, T20I WC and even '92 WC was a mercurial era. Its either boom or bust with mercurial era with more bust than boom.
We can add much more points for discussion to the post above for Organised vs Mercurial era. In my personal opinion an organised side has a much longer shelf life and more chances at winning more trophies in the long-run. The mercurial side will be flash in pan with one trophy win in a decade or more. The worrying sign will be that our losses will be much more shameful with many first round exits. A mercurial side would have been acceptable until mid 90s post 2000s a lot more coaching, strategies, technology and ideally specialists are now associated with game of cricket. Hence relying on a 90s era approach that we simply need one raw talent bowler or batter to make it work is no longer going to yield any results. Well that is my personal opinion and a lot of people on here will differ from that which is fine.
Given we are now in a mercurial era we need to accept that and support our team in the upcoming tournaments.
