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- Sep 4, 2015
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I can see a lot of Wasim vs Waqar vs Mickey threads but I beg to disagree! PSL isn’t about coaching and to compare coaches and their relative success (or lack of it) in isolation during a short tournament is counterproductive and short-sighted.
We need to look at PSL in terms of what is working and what is not working dispassionately and for the sake of making Pakistan Cricket better.
The first one we need to look at is selecting the playing squads. In terms of selecting the best and balanced squad Islamabad is way ahead of the pack, it is clear that whoever is behind the scene has the strategy right and is actually looking at data. The worst of the lot is Quetta when you consider the selection of Azam Khan, Asad Shafiq, Anwar Ali. Azam doesn’t belong in any league and has no domestic record to speak to. Asad Shafiq should be nowhere near T20 or LOI and Anwar Ali has no pace and is canon fodder to any International level batsman. Listen to Sammy’s interview when he was doing commentary a few days ago and he says it himself when he hit Anwar Ali (not enough pace), Anwar brings nothing to the table! Most of the team is selected based on nepotism, it has gone far (and may even win) due to Sarafaraz and having King Viv has Mentor. You cannot discount the value of Sir Viv in the Quetta dressing room.
Multan has basically selected based on (past) performance and this is the hallmark of Wasim Akram, his interviews and commentary clearly indicates that the man has no eye for talent. But Wasim is a good Manager as evident by his social media posting and how he is able to bring together a bunch of players.
I appreciate the patriotism of Fawad Rana BUT watching him gush and have an orgasm every time Umar Akmal touched the ball tells me that he is too emotionally invested in the team. There are also Media reports that he has inserted himself into the selection process when he knows next to nothing about Cricket. He needs to put his business hat on and leave the playing tactics to the professionals.
PSL at its heart is a microcosm of Pakistan Cricket and still playing 1990s brand of cricket and it is heavily tilted in favour of bowlers. There is no significant domestic batting talent (including Hussain Talat, Agha Salman and Asif Ali) in this tournament at all and that is a serious worry for me.
If Pakistan LOI cricket wants to improve it needs to tilt the balance in favour of batsmen in the PSL and it needs to do it quickly, heavily and significantly.
Some of the has-beens like Anwar Ali, Mohammed Irfan, Rahat Ali have been spared not because they have suddenly become world-beaters but because the domestic batsman are timid and still play the 1990s way. Whenever you see even washed up foreigners like Watson turn it up you see the same Malcolm Marshall domestic bowlers get epic phainty.
Next, the umpiring standards in PSL are pathetic and there is no way to sugar-coat this. Clear wides are being missed and vice-versa, it is taking far too long to adjudicate decisions.
Next, the TV coverage on Pakistani channels is 1950s. You can never watch the last delivery of an over and when you return from a commercial sometimes even the first delivery is being missed. Years ago Indian channels used to be like that but they have improved and I do believe that it’s down to IPL coverage.
The ills of PSL are the ills of Pakistan Cricket and they are as follows:
I believe that PCB could take a look at PSL and actual improve Pakistan. There should National investigation on the selection of Azam Khan? How did he get selected?
There are somethings which are working at PSL and they are:
I would like to end by saying that some of the domestic players are extremely unfit and if PCB doesn’t look at the scheduling for next year there will be serious injuries to PAK players. Look at Imad Wasim when he fell down, the guy doesn’t look like an International sportsman at all.
I know that it’s our Patriotic duty to support PSL and we should but we do need to take our rose-tinted glasses off and look at the PSL objectively. From a point of view of Modern cricket, it is neither an interesting league nor conducive to solving long term (batting) problems for Pakistan. All of the games have been mighty close and that is masking our reality of the real situation of PSL.
We need to look at PSL in terms of what is working and what is not working dispassionately and for the sake of making Pakistan Cricket better.
The first one we need to look at is selecting the playing squads. In terms of selecting the best and balanced squad Islamabad is way ahead of the pack, it is clear that whoever is behind the scene has the strategy right and is actually looking at data. The worst of the lot is Quetta when you consider the selection of Azam Khan, Asad Shafiq, Anwar Ali. Azam doesn’t belong in any league and has no domestic record to speak to. Asad Shafiq should be nowhere near T20 or LOI and Anwar Ali has no pace and is canon fodder to any International level batsman. Listen to Sammy’s interview when he was doing commentary a few days ago and he says it himself when he hit Anwar Ali (not enough pace), Anwar brings nothing to the table! Most of the team is selected based on nepotism, it has gone far (and may even win) due to Sarafaraz and having King Viv has Mentor. You cannot discount the value of Sir Viv in the Quetta dressing room.
Multan has basically selected based on (past) performance and this is the hallmark of Wasim Akram, his interviews and commentary clearly indicates that the man has no eye for talent. But Wasim is a good Manager as evident by his social media posting and how he is able to bring together a bunch of players.
I appreciate the patriotism of Fawad Rana BUT watching him gush and have an orgasm every time Umar Akmal touched the ball tells me that he is too emotionally invested in the team. There are also Media reports that he has inserted himself into the selection process when he knows next to nothing about Cricket. He needs to put his business hat on and leave the playing tactics to the professionals.
PSL at its heart is a microcosm of Pakistan Cricket and still playing 1990s brand of cricket and it is heavily tilted in favour of bowlers. There is no significant domestic batting talent (including Hussain Talat, Agha Salman and Asif Ali) in this tournament at all and that is a serious worry for me.
If Pakistan LOI cricket wants to improve it needs to tilt the balance in favour of batsmen in the PSL and it needs to do it quickly, heavily and significantly.
Some of the has-beens like Anwar Ali, Mohammed Irfan, Rahat Ali have been spared not because they have suddenly become world-beaters but because the domestic batsman are timid and still play the 1990s way. Whenever you see even washed up foreigners like Watson turn it up you see the same Malcolm Marshall domestic bowlers get epic phainty.
Next, the umpiring standards in PSL are pathetic and there is no way to sugar-coat this. Clear wides are being missed and vice-versa, it is taking far too long to adjudicate decisions.
Next, the TV coverage on Pakistani channels is 1950s. You can never watch the last delivery of an over and when you return from a commercial sometimes even the first delivery is being missed. Years ago Indian channels used to be like that but they have improved and I do believe that it’s down to IPL coverage.
The ills of PSL are the ills of Pakistan Cricket and they are as follows:
- Nepotism in Selection
- Lack of emphasis on Batting
- Alarming standards of (domestic) umpiring
- Pathetic TV coverage
I believe that PCB could take a look at PSL and actual improve Pakistan. There should National investigation on the selection of Azam Khan? How did he get selected?
There are somethings which are working at PSL and they are:
- Exposure for domestic players to crowds and Media
- Competitive games
- Fielding: I am pleasantly surprised at the standard and it is a good thing.
I would like to end by saying that some of the domestic players are extremely unfit and if PCB doesn’t look at the scheduling for next year there will be serious injuries to PAK players. Look at Imad Wasim when he fell down, the guy doesn’t look like an International sportsman at all.
I know that it’s our Patriotic duty to support PSL and we should but we do need to take our rose-tinted glasses off and look at the PSL objectively. From a point of view of Modern cricket, it is neither an interesting league nor conducive to solving long term (batting) problems for Pakistan. All of the games have been mighty close and that is masking our reality of the real situation of PSL.
