The Champions Trophy win in 2017 is a on par with 1992 world cup win.
A lot of people on this forum and elsewhere seem to forget the turmoil Pakistan cricket team has been through in the decade before this win. Let me list the obvious as a refresher to all.
- Losing 3 above average / regular feature players (Salman, Asif and Amir). They deserve what they got but this post is identifying the impact when a regular player is lost. For better understanding look what impact Warner and Smith less Aussie side had when India toured.
- Exile from home cricket. I'm not sure many people can understand the gravity of being exiled to play at home and the impact it has on a cricket team. It impacts the financial ability, morale / motivation, development of domestic / upcoming players, infrastructure, etc. In a nutshell, no cricket at home can severely impact the existence of the sport in that country. Look at the impact the politics have caused over the years to Kenya and Zimbabwe. These countries were not supported by tours from other countries and neither were they invited for tours and today they are non-existent in cricket world.
- Lack of cricket. On top of no cricket at home, Pakistan was easily the team that had played lowest ratio of matches as compared to other top 8 countries. Pakistan was not invited for many tours in the decade before 2017 (only recently they toured Eng/SAF/Aus) and their series usually were limited to 2 tests or 3 odis. The lack of game practice meant the existing team never had the chance to try new players or give seniors a rest and indulge in rotation culture. As players were anyways earning so little they had to ensure they played all matches to continue earning max of what they can.
To imagine a country going through very serious turmoil in the decade before 2017 to show up in a tournament and win a world tournament is very emphatic. If ever there is resilience to be made an example of then it is this Pakistan cricket team that notched up a historical tournament win from depths of lows.
Since winning the CT in 2017, the team has had its highs and lows. Let's face it Pakistan is still a low ranked international team as decades of turmoil will not simply go away with CT win. Hence, for them to qualify for knockouts in world cup was a challenging ask. Having said that in world cup Pakistan team can feel slightly unlucky to lose points due to rain affected match. In either case, the world cup campaign was neither a success nor a disappointment.
In tests post CT win, Pakistan has done remarkably well on its England tours and have failed on the tours to SAF and AUS. The test team is not as ahead as limited overs team. Given the introduction of new pacers, we might see Pakistan start doing well on SENA tours.
Finally, the best thing that has happened to Pak cricket post CT win 2017 is introduction of Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan. It would come as a surprise but the press releases and management of players / support staff has been done way more professionally now than it has ever done before. The only criticism I have of this team of EM and WK is that they should not have let go of Mickey Arthur. Mickey together with these two could have accelerated the professionalism across the Board. However, given where we are I'm confident that we are heading in the right direction. Pakistan cricket is also slowly but surely becoming self-reliant financially through PSL. If no political changes happen in the next 5 years I can see Pakistan cricket entering the top 4 of world cricket and being a genuine contender to world cup and test championships by 2025.
