barah_admi
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A strong selection committee is key to the success of any international standard sporting team/squad. The success England have found in all formats of the game this century is largely reliant upon a selection panel, a chief selector and a set standard to which cricketers are picked at junior level, groomed in the FC system and then selected for the international side. That selection is then consistent and those considered to be the very best of the group are persisted with. It's a system which was already prominent in Australia throughout the 20th century. The BCCI is starting to take a leaf from their book and the NZC has also found success through this method.
The PCB however still seems a world behind those other, more successful teams. They swing from having a single man selection "panel" (currently Misbah ul Haq) to having a genuine panel, to having coaches and captains take a larger role to having coaches and captains relegated to yes men...if the system itself has no consistency, how can it produce consistent cricketers?
This leads us to the biggest issues facing the PCB and Pakistan cricket in the coming years, that of Misbah ul Haq. As captain he moulded the Pakistan side in his own image, they were obdurate, unfashionable and tough but they were also winners. Yes there were dark moments but 14 test series unbeaten across two different seasons and a world no. 1 rankings shows more success than failure. As coach, Misbah has done away with his pragmatism and tried to score points with the media and foolish fans (most of whom have probably caused more damage to Pakistan cricket than success).
As captain, Misbah saw Pakistan lacked exceptional fast bowlers, so he went with medium pacers who offered control and a string of spinners, which gave us flashes of brilliance in Ajmal and a younger Yasir Shah, circulated by functional partners such as Abdur Rehman and Zulfiqar Babar. The same could be said of the batting, of course there was the genius of Younis Khan but Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq provided a strong, if unspectacular backbone.
Now, as coach, he has picked fast bowlers who are neither particularly fast nor particularly good bowlers, he willingly dropped the only one with experience and skill then rushed him back into a side facing doom and gloom. Pakistan's strength still lies in its spin and yet Shadab Khan was dropped, Khassif Bhatti picked but never played (yet Iftikhar Ahmed as part timer has bowler 20+ overs), a string of young spinners in Gohar, Nawaz and Khan have not been given chances and from the sounds of it, may never get those test places.
If Pakistan is to compete at the highest level, it must create a system of selection, provide consistency and professionalism. It is time for Misbah to be Misbah.
The PCB however still seems a world behind those other, more successful teams. They swing from having a single man selection "panel" (currently Misbah ul Haq) to having a genuine panel, to having coaches and captains take a larger role to having coaches and captains relegated to yes men...if the system itself has no consistency, how can it produce consistent cricketers?
This leads us to the biggest issues facing the PCB and Pakistan cricket in the coming years, that of Misbah ul Haq. As captain he moulded the Pakistan side in his own image, they were obdurate, unfashionable and tough but they were also winners. Yes there were dark moments but 14 test series unbeaten across two different seasons and a world no. 1 rankings shows more success than failure. As coach, Misbah has done away with his pragmatism and tried to score points with the media and foolish fans (most of whom have probably caused more damage to Pakistan cricket than success).
As captain, Misbah saw Pakistan lacked exceptional fast bowlers, so he went with medium pacers who offered control and a string of spinners, which gave us flashes of brilliance in Ajmal and a younger Yasir Shah, circulated by functional partners such as Abdur Rehman and Zulfiqar Babar. The same could be said of the batting, of course there was the genius of Younis Khan but Azhar Ali and Asad Shafiq provided a strong, if unspectacular backbone.
Now, as coach, he has picked fast bowlers who are neither particularly fast nor particularly good bowlers, he willingly dropped the only one with experience and skill then rushed him back into a side facing doom and gloom. Pakistan's strength still lies in its spin and yet Shadab Khan was dropped, Khassif Bhatti picked but never played (yet Iftikhar Ahmed as part timer has bowler 20+ overs), a string of young spinners in Gohar, Nawaz and Khan have not been given chances and from the sounds of it, may never get those test places.
If Pakistan is to compete at the highest level, it must create a system of selection, provide consistency and professionalism. It is time for Misbah to be Misbah.
