Prime Minister Imran Khan approves new domestic cricket structure

[Artaxerxes]

ISLAMABAD: The role of departmental cricket ended with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s approval of recommendations of a Task Force on cricket affairs in Pakistan, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Prime Minister approved the recommendations of the task force for the new structure of domestic cricket in the country as the Chief Patron of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The Task Force on cricket had forwarded its recommendation to the prime minister for reforms in domestic cricket structure.

According to the new domestic structure only six teams will be eligible to play the First Class Cricket in the country, two from Punjab and one each from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and the federal territory.

The new cricket structure will focus on steps to strengthen and encourage cricket at grassroots level.

Under the new structure curtains fall on departmental cricket that has played a pivotal role for promotion of the sport in the country for last 45 years.

Prime Minister Imran Khan while granting his approval to the new cricket structure has advised the departments to extend cooperation to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) regarding the new cricket system in the country.

The departments should sponsor the teams instead of their own teams in the old structure of the sport, the PM reportedly advised them.

https://arynews.tv/en/pm-imran-khan-approves-new-domestic-cricket-structure/

 

[Khan12]

Starting from?

 

[Mean&Green]

Bless up so done with that wapda railways sui gas **

 

[aloo paratha]

Finally. Now we have to make sure the 6 teams don't get filled up with a bunch of TTFs and oldies.

 

[Tapeballcricket]

Considering IK built the team of the 90s, lets see what he can achieve for the future of Pakistan Cricket.

InshAllah something good will come out of this. Being positive

 

[Artaxerxes]

I believe the six teams will have a first XI and a second Xi similar to English counties.

 

[tabishowais]

Will the teams from each province be competing to qualify for the tournament?

 

[zamana]

Hope the selections are transparent and based strictly on merit. It will encourage competitive cricket. Different tiers of competition should also be developed with competition at School, City, District and Division levels The best among them should be selected for First Class Cricket and the best from there should be selected for the National team.This will improve the quality of the game. The Departments can be sponsors of these teams, thus financing the project.

 

[Markhor]

This makes me happier than World Cup semi final qualification.

 

[WebGuru]

IK mentioned this 6 teams system for Pak in almost every cricket related interview i watched in last 2.5 decades let's see if it works. I am also wondering if these departments will agree to sponsor regions based domestic cricket? PCB don't have enough money to run domestic cricket without departments so it's not going to be a smooth ride and from last 45 years departments kept our domestic cricket alive.

I am also interested to know if these 6 teams are going to use their province names? Because there are two teams from Punjab so Punjab will have to come up with names like South Punjab and North Punjab.

 

[Bewal Express]

The danger with system will be that the mindset of the old folks will be the same meaning that we will get the likes of Sohail Tanvir, Kami etc being picked.

 

[TalhaSyed]

A great and long required move alhumdullilah!

InshAllah will help greatly in shaping the future of Pakistani cricket.

Now it's time to see if the departments step up and actually sponsor the teams. Will be scope to have 6 high quality teams playing each-other in 4-day, One Day and T20 matches with PSL on the side for international exposure inshAllah

 

[bujhee kom]

Seismic moment in Pk cricket history.

 

[zee-za-man]

This makes me happier than World Cup semi final qualification.

How will cricketers earn their bread and butter?

The incentive to play cricket will be gone and the pool will reduce to corrupt regional associations in the hands of corrupt people like Shakeel Sheikh.

The few we would see will also diminish and Akmals and Imams will be playing Akmals and Imams from different teams.

Imran Khan can change the system but he'll do nothing about the mafia. He is out of touch whenever he mentions why don't we like become Scandinavia and UK, people chuckle here in reply as this is Pakistan not Europe. Playbooks have been changed several times before also but the players remain unhurt and find ways to exploit the playbook. Arthur created a fitness regime and then the selectors made him eat his words with Imad Wasim selection.

 

[Pakpak]

Finally. Now we have to make sure the 6 teams don't get filled up with a bunch of TTFs and oldies.

Spot on. Knowing our luck the teams will be full of Akmals, Tanvirs, Shafiqs etc the usual garbage. A good first step now have to make sure everything goes well after that.

 

[PakLFC]

It can only be a good thing. Change is always difficult but we won't know unless it is tried.

 

[Tapeballcricket]

Also, if this change fails, we can always go back to departmental cricket. So its not really a bad move.

 

[Titan24]

This makes me happier than World Cup semi final qualification.

Same here.

 

[Shafi]

Not sure should I be happy or sad? There is a good possibility Inzi will fill these 6 teams with oldies and TTFs with 5-6 youngsters (3-4 will be from PCB relatives).

 

[DrSchultz]

What will happen to departmental cricket? Will it cease? They did play a great role in developing our cricketers and giving them a steady income.

 

[Shaka81]

Has the potential to be successful but only if it's done professionally with negative outcomes for players, coaches and selectors who keep failing. If a team consistently comes bottom or near the bottom every season then there should be repercussions and financial penalties unless they change their structure. Hopefully this would lead to the end of all the TTFs and corrupt individuals running Pakistan domestic from having any more influence.

 

[topspin]

Bless up so done with that wapda railways sui gas **

Don't forget Khan Research Laboratories

I remember when Bumble used to bring it up and everyone in the comm. box would start cracking up lool.

 

[aukhan]

This will hurt us badly.

 

[Surya Kiran]

This is line with Australian Domestic Structure. I have always heard stories of how impressed Imran Khan was with club and state cricket in Australia as an active cricketer back then.

Lesser the teams, tougher the competition...It will put pressure on cricketers to focus on all facets of the game to make their place in the team

 

[JaDed]

This will hurt us badly.

Nope, this is great also people will have interest in watching these matches and judging talent and no one can be hidden anymore!

 

[JaDed]

Not sure should I be happy or sad? There is a good possibility Inzi will fill these 6 teams with oldies and TTFs with 5-6 youngsters (3-4 will be from PCB relatives).

Why will Inzi select for these teams?

 

[aloo paratha]

Nope, this is great also people have interest in watching these matches and judging talent and no one can be hidden anymore!

Plus a regional competition is much more watchable. Nobody cares if the final is between KRL and WAPDA, whereas if it's KPK vs Punjab a lot more people will care.

 

[Artaxerxes]

How will cricketers earn their bread and butter?

The incentive to play cricket will be gone and the pool will reduce to corrupt regional associations in the hands of corrupt people like Shakeel Sheikh.

The few we would see will also diminish and Akmals and Imams will be playing Akmals and Imams from different teams.

Imran Khan can change the system but he'll do nothing about the mafia. He is out of touch whenever he mentions why don't we like become Scandinavia and UK, people chuckle here in reply as this is Pakistan not Europe. Playbooks have been changed several times before also but the players remain unhurt and find ways to exploit the playbook. Arthur created a fitness regime and then the selectors made him eat his words with Imad Wasim selection.

If one follows your arguments then one should accept defeat and give up.The people of Europe are also human beings like people of Pakistan.They are not aliens.I know they are better educated and their countries are developed compared to Pakistanis but one can not achieve any goals without trying.We will find out soon if the new system is going to improve or cricket or not.

 

[JaDed]

This is line with Australian Domestic Structure. I have always heard stories of how impressed Imran Khan was with club and state cricket in Australia as an active cricketer back then.

Lesser the teams, tougher the competition...It will put pressure on cricketers to focus on all facets of the game to make their place in the team

Considering the size of Pakistan imho this is perfect, even if it works 30% it would be a great improvement over their existing structure!

 

[Hawkeye]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

You must have inside knowledge of the new setup.

 

[WebGuru]

Nope, this is great also people will have interest in watching these matches and judging talent and no one can be hidden anymore!

At least now these teams will have a fan following based on regions otherwise it was really hard to support departments i mean who want to support banks railway ptv laborteries etc etc? And the rich departments had all the big players for example Habib Bank and Sui Northern Gas Limited

 

[topspin]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs and oldies will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

Agreed, it seems you forgot to add Misbah to the list as well.

 

[Khan12]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

Misbah should be the first one there specially when you consider some of the names above have won us more games then someone like misbah ever did.

 

[Surya Kiran]

Considering the size of Pakistan imho this is perfect, even if it works 30% it would be a great improvement over their existing structure!

This change along with the appointment of Wasim Khan could get them great benefits

 

[Titan24]

So just to make it bit clear for you and under who have questions.

1) Firstly its easier to pay good some of money to 120 players than around 500 players. All the departments who owned team will have the oppurtunity to sponsor teams now and you never know if the process is carried out well some other big industrial groups will get involved.

2) Its much easier to give high quality coaches and staff to 6 teams than 18-20 teams. High quality backroom staff will help in nourishing young players in a much better way then before. There is a difference between Mohammad Hasnain being trained and coached by some random guy than for eg Waqar Younus, Shoaib Akhtar, Mohammad Akram etc

3) Each region will have its own set of selectors and yes it would be the key that they are unbiased with sole aim of producing talent for Pakistan.

4) One other master stroke could be if good selectors from region and coaches and back room staff as well get promoted to national set up based upon their performances. That would be good incentive for them along side their normal perks and privileges to do well for their region.

 

[Hawkeye]

You must have inside knowledge of the new setup.

It won't change, until educated, well paid, professional selectors and coaches are brought in who give no heed to "par-chi", sifarish and rishwat.

Do you see that changing?

I don't.

If you're optimistic, then you have no idea about how corrupt the domestic teams and their management is.

 

[Titan24]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

I think when the job coaches and selectors of each region will be dependent upon performance, they will do their level best for their team to do well and will select players accordingly.

 

[Hawkeye]

I think when the job coaches and selectors of each region will be dependent upon performance, they will do their level best for their team to do well and will select players accordingly.

In theory that is correct.

Can and will this really be implemented? They can't and will not just fire the coaches, selectors.

They will fit them in.

 

[Shafi]

Why will Inzi select for these teams?

Whether its Inzi or those teams' selectors. You cannot trust those selectors because they are just corrupt

 

[JaDed]

Whether its Inzi or those teams' selectors. You cannot trust those selectors because they are just corrupt

But there will be pressure of performance now, who the hell cared about banks?

 

[LordJames]

ISLAMABAD: The role of departmental cricket ended with Prime Minister Imran Khan’s approval of recommendations of a Task Force on cricket affairs in Pakistan, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Prime Minister approved the recommendations of the task force for the new structure of domestic cricket in the country as the Chief Patron of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

The Task Force on cricket had forwarded its recommendation to the prime minister for reforms in domestic cricket structure.

According to the new domestic structure only six teams will be eligible to play the First Class Cricket in the country, two from Punjab and one each from Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces and the federal territory.

The new cricket structure will focus on steps to strengthen and encourage cricket at grassroots level.

Under the new structure curtains fall on departmental cricket that has played a pivotal role for promotion of the sport in the country for last 45 years.

Prime Minister Imran Khan while granting his approval to the new cricket structure has advised the departments to extend cooperation to Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) regarding the new cricket system in the country.

The departments should sponsor the teams instead of their own teams in the old structure of the sport, the PM reportedly advised them.

https://arynews.tv/en/pm-imran-khan-approves-new-domestic-cricket-structure/

View attachment 93393

PCB and the way Pakistan Cricket is merely a reflection of how the rest of the Pakistani society is run and managed.

You can change the system but endemic and cancerous problems will remain.

You can change it to departmental OR non-departmental, 20 teams to two tiers of 6 teams but unless and until the corruption and nepotism is rooted out the improvement (if any) will just be superficial.

(Ex-Pakistan) players like Kamran Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad and even current ones like Hafeez have powerful backers who will back them and they will appear in a WAPDA team or Lahore team, the jerseys change but the players will not.

Shakeel Shaikh and others will find a way to infect the system doesn’t matter if it’s PIA or Punjab.

If the corruption or nepotism is not rooted out and eliminated, these same cancerous agents will infect the system.

The new system may work find in the short term and it will be hailed as success but it will be successful because the setting of infection will take time. In a few seasons, marginal improvements may be visible but the livelihood of many (honest and sincere) players will be taken away.
PSL is franchise based but do you see honest ability based selections across all PSL teams OR do you see Asad Ahafiq and Anwar Ali playing? On paper, PSL is a purely commercial entity and it should be competitive, fair and equitable, BUT is it?

So what makes everyone think that restructuring (and removing departmental) Cricket will be any different?

Pakistan is not Australia! The population of Pakistan is massive, the opportunities to earn a living are severely limited and career opportunities for professional sportsman (outside of National) setup are non-existent. There is a reason why retired and discarded (Ex) players try to cling to power and crave for attention? They have nothing else to do and no other way to stay relevant or earn a living.

In Australia, a player (young or old) has real and genuine career choices, what choice does Abdur-Razzaq has? He has no choice but to issue absurd and controversial statements and try to relevant, it’s his only livelihood.

Instead of biting off this big chunk of restructuring, Wasim Khan should have made small changes such as:

1. Increasing the flow of money into lower tiers of Pakistan Domestic Cricket

2. Introduce professionalism and Coaching at lower tiers

3. Improve the quality of balls and pitches

Wasim Khan and others have decided to make big headline changes and I hope (for the sake of Pakistan cricket) this works.

But don’t expect quick results but it will take a few years to rip out the remnants of the old system and for the new one to bed in.

From a Business Management point of view, I think these changes are too big. Wasim Khan only has a year or two to make this work and there is a cabal of leeches whose power is being challenged, they have every incentive to make this fail!

 

[Titan24]

In theory that is correct.

Can and will this really be implemented? They can't and will not just fire the coaches, selectors.

They will fit them in.

Even if the some shortcomings of the system remain, I still think it would produce better quality cricketers than system failure was spread over 18 teams.

Hasnian, Musa etc can learn much more by bowling to maybe Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Saud Shakeel or other domestic performers than some random guy and same goes for young batsmen like Omair Yousuf, Haider Ali, Nabi Gul, Saif Badar to play some decent international and domestic performers rather than facing ordinary attack in every other game.

 

[zee-za-man]

If one follows your arguments then one should accept defeat and give up.The people of Europe are also human beings like people of Pakistan.They are not aliens.I know they are better educated and their countries are developed compared to Pakistanis but one can not achieve any goals without trying.We will find out soon if the new system is going to improve or cricket or not.

Heheheh I'm not praising Europe just stating the obvious that they and we are not the same. This 'we are all humans is very subjective', all humans are different and have their own set of culture and system.

One can fix the problems in Pakistan if one understands the mindset, not look up to alien structures which they are. Btw the most corrupt in Pakistan are the better educated. And a person who never attended college or even high school built the biggest ambulance service and other major welfare intiatives by the name of Abdul Sattar Edhi.

Imran Khan is actually draining the swamp but keeping the crocodiles.

We are into almost a year in Imran Khan's term, look what he did to the national team. He brought a weak and timid administrator to replace Sethi. Thanks to Imran Khan we are witnessing Imams, HAfeezs and Maliks while the rest of the world like Bangladesh have moved light years ahead. We are still crying about basic stuff like merit.

 

[JellyBro]

system isn't even in place yet and people area already wrist slitting. Can you guys be positive for a change? How miserable do you have to be criticizing every single thing.

 

[Hawkeye]

Even if the some shortcomings of the system remain, I still think it would produce better quality cricketers than system failure was spread over 18 teams.

Hasnian, Musa etc can learn much more by bowling to maybe Babar Azam, Haris Sohail, Saud Shakeel or other domestic performers than some random guy and same goes for young batsmen like Omair Yousuf, Haider Ali, Nabi Gul, Saif Badar to play some decent international and domestic performers rather than facing ordinary attack in every other game.

Again, in theory it sounds good.

But, I'm not too optimistic given the realities of our system and environment. Unless they specifically address those too and bring in new coaches, selectors.

Of course, I can't stop others from being too optimistic.

 

[Xoib]

Sounds good.

Until you realize that the 6 teams will be filled with powerful domestic bullies and TTFs, who are not international quality and have no future.

Kami
Fawad Alam
Ehsan Adil
Sadaf
Bhatti
Anwar Ali
Nawaz
Junaid Khan
Gul
Salman Butt
Rizwan

This is just a small list, many more mediocre TTFs will fill the teams.

At max, you will see 1 or 2 new good potential prospects.

For a youngster to score against an attack of Ehsan Adil, Nayyer Abbas, Ahmed Jamal and Sadat Hussain is a better challenge then playing against Aizaz cheema and 3 random club cricketers for 80 % of the season

 

[ChennaiFan]

This is a good move by PCB. Having competitive teams at the top level of domestic competition is the way to get the best possible team to represent the country. Hope to see a strong Pakistan team in the near
future.

 

[Bewal Express]

The top level will only work if the tiers below are working. You need the City teams to be strong, which then feeds into the provincial teams. Otherwise, the gap will be too big for those that step up and you will create a players that are too good for domestic Cricket and stay in these teams for years but are useless at the international level.

 

[Misia]

Restrictions on players eligibility for playing in specific regions should be put in place

You can only represent the region you reside in

 

[nam]

System that we have now is not working so a change is necessary to see if it becomes better or worse. Minor tweaks will be required as we move through this change and needs a lot of patience. I expect every pundit to have their say in the media about it and will be messy for couple of years.

 

[Shafi]

I think it will be failed miserably and damage our cricket even more. Fully agree with Hawkeye. This will even reduce the chances of upcoming talented young players because corruptions are everywhere and all the teams will be filled with domestic bullies, discarded internationals and players link with PCB high official.
We will not see talented players like Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasnain, Saud, Haider Ali, Rohail, Haris Khan..... will find any team.Rather we will see Kamran, Faisal Iqbal, Sir Farhat, Adnan Akmal, Gul, S Tanvir,Butt, Rizwan, Sarfraz, S Ansari (Already 5 wicket keepers so no cance for Rohail....) in those teams.

 

[muqarrab]

This is the final nail ins pakistani crickets coffin. How can six team cater to a pool drawn from 220 million people?

 

[Rellu_Katta]

It won't change, until educated, well paid, professional selectors and coaches are brought in who give no heed to "par-chi", sifarish and rishwat.

Do you see that changing?

I don't.

If you're optimistic, then you have no idea about how corrupt the domestic teams and their management is.

i trust it will be good but my fear is it wont change... we will have the tumor of shakeel sheikh as a senior member somewhere who will select the filth that is Arsal Sheikh (his son) in the team. similar for other people as well... and what is left will be taken by corrupt bullies like Talat Hussain (the geo coward who thought he would be a youtube sensation lol ) forcing players of their likes into these teams....

I just hope this change is backed by some solid selectors and coaches ....only then it owuld be worth anything else this could go horribly wrong

 

[Rellu_Katta]

This is the final nail ins pakistani crickets coffin. How can six team cater to a pool drawn from 220 million people?

the idea is not to have just 6 teams.. the 6 teams will be the best talent of the region. there will be lower level inter-regional teams that will pump players for these top teams.

 

[sshakir411]

Long and challenging road ahead. It’s imperative for Wasim Khan to select the right people for each region and stay focused to execute his plan. There’s going to be lots of backlash and external influences will derail the process as much as they can..the team will suffer during this time as well.

Only time will tell if he can remain steadfast and build the system that will not require chopping and bandaging every 4 years.

 

[HasanA]

I think it will be failed miserably and damage our cricket even more. Fully agree with Hawkeye. This will even reduce the chances of upcoming talented young players because corruptions are everywhere and all the teams will be filled with domestic bullies, discarded internationals and players link with PCB high official.
We will not see talented players like Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasnain, Saud, Haider Ali, Rohail, Haris Khan..... will find any team.Rather we will see Kamran, Faisal Iqbal, Sir Farhat, Adnan Akmal, Gul, S Tanvir,Butt, Rizwan, Sarfraz, S Ansari (Already 5 wicket keepers so no cance for Rohail....) in those teams.

you are forgetting a simple thing. the teams with the most talent will win MORE because the cream will be chosen. it will be easier to identify which province is not choosing the best players because less teams = more exposure to scrutiny than WAPDA, PIA.

in fact the provincial makeup of the teams will encourage the better players to be chosen because of ego

 

[Shafi]

the idea is not to have just 6 teams.. the 6 teams will be the best talent of the region. there will be lower level inter-regional teams that will pump players for these top teams.

But those TTFs and domestic bullies will not play in the 2nd tier (lower 6 teams) for sure.How can you disregard Kamran, Gul, Misbah, Shehzad, Gul, S Butt.... for not selecting 1st tier. They will force themselves to be selected.

 

[Shafi]

you are forgetting a simple thing. the teams with the most talent will win MORE because the cream will be chosen. it will be easier to identify which province is not choosing the best players because less teams = more exposure to scrutiny than WAPDA, PIA.

in fact the provincial makeup of the teams will encourage the better players to be chosen because of ego

Agree if there is a huge difference in selection procedure among teams. But if all the teams prefers senior players along with domestic bullies then they will perform same more or less.

 

[mastermind_quad]

This is copy of shield cricket I believe. IK always mention shield cricket in his discussion earlier so this is not a surprise from him giving green signal to this change.

All the Six team need to be thoroughly professional to achieve the amount of success shield cricket produce.

I think task force just heard old IK discussions and copied the idea. They should have come up with better plan.

If I have to make this change I would have allowed at least 8 teams as per Pak population and cricket interest which is > then Australia.

 

[Syed1]

Excellent move... anybody who has followed domestic cricket can attest to the fact that most department teams were filled with raillu kattas and there were only two three teams like SUI, WAPDA, UBL, HBL that even had some quality players or were competitive teams.


I expect that initially these six teams will be filled with oldies and TTFs, but over the course of a year or two years proper talent will shine through as is happening in PSL (Go and see the team compositions in first season of PSL).

I hope effective measures are put in place to uphold merit and quality in each regional side. Maybe link the salaries and bonuses of the team's support staff and players with the performance of the team.

 

[Syed1]

This is copy of shield cricket I believe. IK always mention shield cricket in his discussion earlier so this is not a surprise from him giving green signal to this change.

All the Six team need to be thoroughly professional to achieve the amount of success shield cricket produce.

I think task force just heard old IK discussions and copied the idea. They should have come up with better plan.

If I have to make this change I would have allowed at least 8 teams as per Pak population and cricket interest which is > then Australia.

The 6 team regional domestic structure has a base of inter-city structure, so say in the Punjab region teams like Lahore, Pindi, Multan etc etc etc will be competing and the best players from this second tier will be feeding the Punjab side. Wasim Khan delineated the full structure in an interview a while back. The only similarity it has with shield is that both have six teams. That's it.

 

[Titan24]

This is the final nail ins pakistani crickets coffin. One mor idiocy of selected khan. How can six team cater to a pool drawn from 220 million people?

Its not about carting 220 million people its about producing good cricketers to represent Pakistan. There will also be 2nd XIs of every team along with club cricket so if anyone is good enough he will automatically be selected for the region. No point in having mediocre players playing in domestics.

 

[Rellu_Katta]

But those TTFs and domestic bullies will not play in the 2nd tier (lower 6 teams) for sure.How can you disregard Kamran, Gul, Misbah, Shehzad, Gul, S Butt.... for not selecting 1st tier. They will force themselves to be selected.

abs agree... thats y saying that we need to have a right set of restrictions not to allow the baba gz of domestic to play again and again... its should be an ever improving process....

 

[Madplayer]

I think it will be failed miserably and damage our cricket even more. Fully agree with Hawkeye. This will even reduce the chances of upcoming talented young players because corruptions are everywhere and all the teams will be filled with domestic bullies, discarded internationals and players link with PCB high official.
We will not see talented players like Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasnain, Saud, Haider Ali, Rohail, Haris Khan..... will find any team.Rather we will see Kamran, Faisal Iqbal, Sir Farhat, Adnan Akmal, Gul, S Tanvir,Butt, Rizwan, Sarfraz, S Ansari (Already 5 wicket keepers so no cance for Rohail....) in those teams.

If this happens then nepotism will become completely apparent and the system will be exposed because its just 6 team at the highest level of domestics. The nepotistic selections cant hide in such a small number of teams. Win win situation.

 

[big_gamer007]

Step in right direction now he has to ensure transparency and professionalism in selecting players. If that's ensured then this will be a master stroke.

 

[Syed1]

If this happens then nepotism will become completely apparent and the system will be exposed because its just 6 team at the highest level of domestics. The nepotistic selections cant hide in such a small number of teams. Win win situation.

Take PSL for example... initially there were unmeritted selections like Rifat chacha and Ifti uncle but now majority teams play on merit.

 

[usmankhanmlg]

PCB and the way Pakistan Cricket is merely a reflection of how the rest of the Pakistani society is run and managed.

You can change the system but endemic and cancerous problems will remain.

You can change it to departmental OR non-departmental, 20 teams to two tiers of 6 teams but unless and until the corruption and nepotism is rooted out the improvement (if any) will just be superficial.

Don't worry, I am working on that.

 

[shah_1]

Hopefully this works

But everything has to be clear cut and tell us every little details about THE WHOLE SYSTEM.

My only problem is there might be too many saarfishi players in the teams, we couldn't see talented players playing in Pakistan Cup. How does PCB insure youngsers and right players get picked.

 

[Shafi]

Take PSL for example... initially there were unmeritted selections like Rifat chacha and Ifti uncle but now majority teams play on merit.

I doubt about last PSL. All the teams were selecting senior players over emerging players. We didn't even unearth 1 young batsman.

 

[Madplayer]

Take PSL for example... initially there were unmeritted selections like Rifat chacha and Ifti uncle but now majority teams play on merit.

Exactly. Look, nepotism/favouritism etc. is bound to happen in every kind of structure. However, a good structure minimizes such the number of such selections. In this new structure, its just 6 teams. Which means just 66 players in playing XI's playing in the top tier of the structure. Surely, if the number of selections based on nepotism is too high in a set up where the maximum number of players is already limited to a low number, everything will be completely exposed.

 

[Syed1]

I doubt about last PSL. All the teams were selecting senior players over emerging players. We didn't even unearth 1 young batsman.

Yeah good luck unearthing batting talent from a T20 competition.

 

[Syed1]

Exactly. Look, nepotism/favouritism etc. is bound to happen in every kind of structure. However, a good structure minimizes such the number of such selections. In this new structure, its just 6 teams. Which means just 66 players in playing XI's playing in the top tier of the structure. Surely, if the number of selections based on nepotism is too high in a set up where the maximum number of players is already limited to a low number, everything will be completely exposed.

Yeah right now you have 35 year old uncles with massive bellies being opening bowlers for premier domestic teams. Those running lip against the new system have absolutely no idea about the current garbage system.

 

[Shafi]

My question is:::
How can we ignore players like Shehzad, Kamran, Gul, Misbah, Hafeez, Malik, S Butt, S Tanvir, Adnan Akmal, S Ansari, Faisal Iqbal, Farhat..... to enter into 1st tier. They have even good record to back themselves. They are also senior plus lots of support.

 

[Shafi]

Yeah right now you have 35 year old uncles with massive bellies being opening bowlers for premier domestic teams. Those running lip against the new system have absolutely no idea about the current garbage system.

But if they have good domestic records how can you discard them? I.e Kamran, Gul, Shehzad....

 

[Shafi]

@ Mamoon, MMH, Savak whats you people's opinion?

 

[Markhor]

This is the final nail ins pakistani crickets coffin. How can six team cater to a pool drawn from 220 million people?

Firstly even though there's only 6 FC teams, there'll be a vastly greater amount of cities who'll participate in their own tournament that'll feed into the regions.

Secondly this population argument has never made much sense. Are all 220m Pakistanis aspiring cricketers ? There are always only a limited number of places and the job of FC cricketers is not to give everyone a chance but to FILTER out the best crop of talent who are most likely to graduate to internationals.

Also, Pakistan's Quaid-e-Azam Trophy in the 1990s only had 8-9 teams participating so fewer teams in the competition is nothing new !

 

[Markhor]

I think it will be failed miserably and damage our cricket even more. Fully agree with Hawkeye. This will even reduce the chances of upcoming talented young players because corruptions are everywhere and all the teams will be filled with domestic bullies, discarded internationals and players link with PCB high official.
We will not see talented players like Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Hasnain, Saud, Haider Ali, Rohail, Haris Khan..... will find any team.Rather we will see Kamran, Faisal Iqbal, Sir Farhat, Adnan Akmal, Gul, S Tanvir,Butt, Rizwan, Sarfraz, S Ansari (Already 5 wicket keepers so no cance for Rohail....) in those teams.

Maybe you were too young to remember but in the 1990s there were only 8-9 teams competing in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

There was same corruption/nepotism culture then but the system still produced talent for the national team.

However when our beloved commentator Rameez Raja ordered green pitches nationwide and messed around with the number of teams (expanding the no. of teams to as many as 18 to 24) our FC cricket was destroyed.

 

[Bewal Express]

Need to also make sure that the B teams of the provinces have age quotas for example 5 players under 24 etc. I think the worst fear of all is teams full of mediocre ageing players suffocating young talent.

 

[MMHS]

This is the final nail ins pakistani crickets coffin. How can six team cater to a pool drawn from 220 million people?

That's why it needs a proper tier system, so that at top of the pyramid stays the cream. It's not about 220 mn or 2.2 mn, rather it's about creating an environment here the system filters the best of the best. Even if PAK's population was 22mn still do you think catering 16 X 6~ 100 players was sufficient?

The structure is perfect, question is how they execute it. For a similar size of population, do you know how many registered soccer players are there in Brazil? 3.5 million - that's more than the entire population of many countries. And, Brazil soccer has 18 or 19 tiers ...... the bottom 2-3 of those 19 covers over 3 million of those 3.5, so you can understand how they are catering them, but still it's has a framework and some kid playing in 4th division of Manaus league deep in Amazon has a hope that someone is keeping eye on him.

Also, I am not sure if you have read Wasim Khan's detailed frame work of this model - let me summarize it for you with numbers -

Top tier: 6 Regional/State Teams with a 2nd 11 tournament running simultaneously = 6 X 25 ~ 150 players

2nd tier: District/City based teams - I presume around 100 teams at least (PCB probably has around 96/96 Cricket districts, somewhere I read in past) = 100 X 20 ~ 2,000 players

3rd tier: Club cricket - roughly 5,000 clubs = 5000 X 15 ~ 75,000 players.

On top of that, there will be U13, U16 & U19 cricket, school/college cricket, which should cover another 100K at least.

They are not reducing the scope, rather creating a top tier which ideally should be 85-90% in terms of degree of difficulty to international cricket (And much more competitive than bashing ZIM reserves or choking against AFG talunt), so that players are mentally stressed, physically challenged and skill wise up to date. I give you one example that I myself got badly exposed - Faheem Ashraf. Before PSL/PCT, he had a 3-4 years FC career and had stats like 29 average with bat and 27 with ball from domestics, after good numbers (close to 40) FC games - in an ideal case, you can expect a 15 or at most 20% discount in International stage - say roughly 25 average with bat and 29 with ball .... guy is suffering from 150-200% discount!!!!!! If you look at players playing in English Counties between 1970s to 1990s, many of them have a better Test/ODI stats than FC/List A stats .... same is the case for most Aussie players playing Shield cricket in 90s. We are not expecting that, but at least there has to be a minimum standard.

This will be a final nail indeed, if -


1. Still PSL remains the epitome of PAK cricket
2. Still 32 years young Saad Altaf's keep playing First Class Cricket
3. Still 25+ years old "kids" with double shaven chin keep using U19 training & facilities
4. Still they keep playing this joke of FC cricket with 4 innings between T20 & List A, on what is the worst wicket in cricket world, that too in PAK winter with fog, smog, rain, and daily 5 hours playing light.
5. Still every player keeps playing all sorts of cricket like a hired gun mercenary - from PAK National team to Patrons trophy, Ramadan Cup .......
6. Morally corrupt, professionally incompetent, personally biased and passionless people keeps on holding key spots like coach, selectors, administrators.