"Pakistan cricket is strong, there are many players, and with a little adjustment, it can be as strong as Bharat": Sourav Ganguly

[FearlessRoar]

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly speaks during an interview on A sports:

"In your country, there is a wealth of talent. I listen and watch the team. A few adjustments are required, but there is an abundance of talent, a team with players like Shaheen Shah Afridi, and batters like Rizwan, Babar, and Imam. When you see it, you realize......because I grew up watching Saeed Anwar, Wasim Akram, Yousaf Youhana, Younis, and Inzi bhai. Inzi bhai, though slow, when facing fast bowling, makes it seem like the ball is slow. Hence, he was a big player.

So, in my opinion, Pakistan cricket is strong, there are many players, and with a little adjustment, it can be as strong as Bharat."

 

[FearlessRoar]

I appreciate his friendly sportsmanship. He is always kind and sweet towards Pakistan cricket team players. He always mentions the India tour of 2004, memories he always cherishes.

He has suggested Pakistan in detail about how we should also focus on longer formats (4-5 days cricket) and invest money in players development, similar to what they have done in India. A consistent system will make the Pakistan team very competitive side in Tests and ODIs

 

[BouncerGuy]

Even Sourav Ganguly is optimistic about Team Pakistan's talent. His observations about the potential of Pakistan’s cricket team are indeed insightful and a testament to the rich legacy of Pakistan cricket. I like the way he is showing his sportsmanship from across the border. Well said indeed.

 

[Bhaijaan]

He’s a great ambassador. BCCI is a political chair so i understand him
and Rameez and Imran like people have to act out of character for the sake of their political leadership position. But otherwise they’re all very sensible and friendly folks.

 

[jnaveen1980]

There is a gross misconception that IPL is giving India these players. In the early part and mid 2010s we had a few IPL stars that made it big. Ashwin, Jadeja (although he had 3 triple 100s in domestic his selection as bowler was due to IPL), Bumrah, SKY, Pandya. Notable. Most of the other guys are due to their performance in domestic.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

There is a gross misconception that IPL is giving India these players. In the early part and mid 2010s we had a few IPL stars that made it big. Ashwin, Jadeja (although he had 3 triple 100s in domestic his selection as bowler was due to IPL), Bumrah, SKY, Pandya. Notable. Most of the other guys are due to their performance in domestic.

Not a single player in current squad is due to IPL. All due to strong Domestic/List A performances in ODI/Test Cricket.
Except Umran Malik who did not play much domestic, and Surya who has a middling record in domestic but great record in T20Is, for ODI and Test people came into squad based on performances in Ranji/Domestic ODI tournaments.

Kohli and Virat- Earmarked as early talents in U19 days, but both scored heavily in Ranji with 50 plus averages.
KL Rahul - Part to the Team for Karanataka winning treble. Again came into Test side after great 2-3 seasons in Ranji.
Jadeja - U19 Final winner, then slogged his backside off in Ranji bowling on those dead Saurashtra wickets. 3 Triple Centuries.
Ashwin - Great domestic record before we hear of him in IPL for Chennai.
Kuldeep Yadav - Came through U19, played lot of Ranji matches before getting selected for Test and ODI cricket.


You see the pattern. Same can be applied for Shami/Siraj/Prasidh etc.
There is a process. You win or lose, but you follow the same process. This is where Pakistan team is lacking. Someone bowls 150+ or scores a 10 ball 30 in PSL, he is selected in T20I/ODI/Test Squads automatically. Not picking and backing right players for the right formats is a big issue. Each and every bowler selected for current WC was a 4 over bowler. They just did not have the rhythm/tempo of ODI/Test Cricket.

But, what is the point of writing all these essays. PCB has scheduled zero ODIs for the next whole year. It makes sense upto T20 WC for 2024, but at least schedule some ODIs post that. So, not sure why these questions are not asked from PCB management.

 

[zaidihusain]

Ganguly made some really important points about bowlers. He said you need a bowler who can bowl 25-30 overs both with new & old ball with good pace. He emphasized the importance of playing first class cricket & 4 & 5 days cricket. Pakistan has got some really good players but unfortunately, they don't last long in the system because PCB doesn't have strong policies for such cricketers and also due to fake hype by media

 

[Mamoon]

Those “little adjustments” are the following:

- Revamp the entire cricket culture. Enough of the unpredictability, cornered tigers, one minute down next minute up, land of fast bowlers, land of natural talent BS. All of that are nothing but lies.

- Develop a process where you can develop cricketers with proper game awareness and professional behavior.

Talent means nothing. Right now France and Germany have no cricket talent but if they invest all their resources in cricket instead of football they will also produce world class cricketers few decades later. It is all about skill development.

Pakistan has almost no natural talent regardless of what lies we have been fed for decades but on top of that, Pakistan has zero skill development.

There is something that Pakistan cricket can do because the foundation is there. It has immense human capital, love for the sport and PCB has more than enough money to establish a world class player development process. It is about channeling and investing the money properly.

However, we all know that none of the above will happen because the first step is to change your mindset. Pakistan is an intelligent bankrupt cricket nation.

I look around this forum, I look at fans outside this forum, I look at the media, the ex players, the PCB officials.

There is one thing I see in common - absolutely pathetic understanding of cricket. 99% of the stakeholders in Pakistan cricket - and this includes everyone in the aforementioned list - have no clue about the game.

Even today, most people don’t understand why and how Pakistan failed in this World Cup, where does Pakistan stand relative to other teams and what are the weak points. Their diagnosis are always wrong and when you don’t know what is going wrong or what has been going wrong for 30 years, you have no chance to improve.

Pakistan is a fluke cricket nation. When they win they don’t know why they won and when they lose they don’t know why they lost. This is why Pakistan is condemned to perpetual mediocrity.

Pakistan is in the same tier as West, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Three cricket nations that will never recover and will always remain mediocre. Always.

These “minor adjustments” are not so minor after all.

 

[Sycamore]

IPL is the cherry on top. Behind it there are massive setups in place focusing on each of the formats. You don't get to beat Australia twice in their home without developing these players at the domestic level.

To grow any business you need to invest your profits back into the business to reap the benefits. PCB needs to divert money(profit) from PSL to domestic competitions increase first class contracts 10x, divert players to 4 day and one day matches. T20 will take care of its own.

 

[nuttyprof]

Ganguly was being polite. You really didn’t expect him to dissect socio-economic reasons in 2 minutes. He quickly diverted the topic to nostalgia and said minor adjustments.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

IPL is the cherry on top. Behind it there are massive setups in place focusing on each of the formats. You don't get to beat Australia twice in their home without developing these players at the domestic level.

To grow any business you need to invest your profits back into the business to reap the benefits. PCB needs to divert money(profit) from PSL to domestic competitions increase first class contracts 10x, divert players to 4 day and one day matches. T20 will take care of its own.

PCB chairmen like Sethi and Zaka are political cronies and they are busy diverting that money towards their other cronies. It is a highly corrupt board.

 

[gazza619]

I wish we could handover PCB to Ganguly.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

Kind words from Ganguly here but he was being too diplomatic and kind.

 

[hoshiarpurexpress]

Also the ex Pakistani players are some of the biggest hyprocrites as well. Look at the some of hypocrisy in following :

1. Misbah Ul Haq - He is berating the team about Strike rate.. really Misbah. Why did you not led by example.
2. Shoaib Malik - Saying that the team needs to be more consistent. Did he show any consistency in his career? Only one thing was consistent about him was failing miserably against 130K+ bowlers.

And the best one, Moin Khan talking about Fitness standards of current players and asking them to become fitter.. lol.
Really Moin. Charity begins at home. Get your fat kid fit before shoving him in the National team.

These are just few examples. The whole cricket system in Pakistan is rotten to the core.

 

[Mp812]

Besides the infrastructure and $$$$, what also matters is commitment from ex players in mentoring (without getting paid) in helping new players improve. One of the beneficiaries of Yuvraj's mentoring is rising star Gill, whose got to fine-tune his game when the former India star invited him and three others for a month-long training at the ground next to his home. All this happened during the COVID-19 induced lockdown.

Gill, Abhishek Sharma, Anmolpreet Singh and Prabhsimran Singh were all mentored & Yuvaraj guided them in how to adjust their game in different match scenarios

If the pace greats of past in Pakistan held a similar camp for fast bowlers, it would help. All it needs is a ground and a dozen cricket balls, some nets and mentoring commitment.

 

[FearlessRoar]

He’s a great ambassador. BCCI is a political chair so i understand him
and Rameez and Imran like people have to act out of character for the sake of their political leadership position. But otherwise they’re all very sensible and friendly folks.

He is truly a great ambassador of our beloved game, and he has many fans in Pakistan too.

 

[cricketjoshila]

Kind words from Ganguly here but he was being too diplomatic and kind.

Diplomatically he mentioned two very good points.

1.Playing too much T20 will give rise to mediocrity.

2. Players need to play more 4-5 day games and bowlers must be able to bowl 25-30 overs a day at good pace.

I hope PCB gets the likes of Shaheen Naseem Wasim to play less leagues and more FC cricket.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Not a single player in current squad is due to IPL. All due to strong Domestic/List A performances in ODI/Test Cricket.
Except Umran Malik who did not play much domestic, and Surya who has a middling record in domestic but great record in T20Is, for ODI and Test people came into squad based on performances in Ranji/Domestic ODI tournaments.

Kohli and Virat- Earmarked as early talents in U19 days, but both scored heavily in Ranji with 50 plus averages.
KL Rahul - Part to the Team for Karanataka winning treble. Again came into Test side after great 2-3 seasons in Ranji.
Jadeja - U19 Final winner, then slogged his backside off in Ranji bowling on those dead Saurashtra wickets. 3 Triple Centuries.
Ashwin - Great domestic record before we hear of him in IPL for Chennai.
Kuldeep Yadav - Came through U19, played lot of Ranji matches before getting selected for Test and ODI cricket.


You see the pattern. Same can be applied for Shami/Siraj/Prasidh etc.
There is a process. You win or lose, but you follow the same process. This is where Pakistan team is lacking. Someone bowls 150+ or scores a 10 ball 30 in PSL, he is selected in T20I/ODI/Test Squads automatically. Not picking and backing right players for the right formats is a big issue. Each and every bowler selected for current WC was a 4 over bowler. They just did not have the rhythm/tempo of ODI/Test Cricket.

But, what is the point of writing all these essays. PCB has scheduled zero ODIs for the next whole year. It makes sense upto T20 WC for 2024, but at least schedule some ODIs post that. So, not sure why these questions are not asked from PCB management.

I think this is what Ganguly is saying in a diplomatic manner. Indian cricket was healthy regardless of IPL, their domestic cricket is functioning and well organised. Pakistan players look like they have barely any understanding of techniques, they look uncoached basically. The batsmen play across the line looking to hit stupid sixes, and the bowlers don't even understand the role of the seam. It's pointless hurling the ball at 150kph if you can't make it go where you want.

There is raw material in Pakistan, but you can't go on a world stage with undercooked ingredients.

 

[Savak]

All the upcoming Indian bowlers and batters have great basics i.e. batters with solid techniques, good ability to rotate strike, bowlers with excellent seam positions, excellent line and length. You can tell that the coaches they have employed in their Academies and Domestic Circuit are doing their jobs well. India also sends their U-19, A team, Emerging players on tours to England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand the most which is a tremendous learning environment.

Pakistan needs to make their players play domestic cricket including 4-5 day cricket and anyone who doesn't play the domestic season should not be allowed to play in the PSL let alone getting NOC's for Leagues abroad.

 

[mominsaigol]

Ganguly sahib, to implement the changes that you mention, Pakistan must become a non corrupt nation.

Will that happen? Probs not.