I believe that any genuine well-wisher of Pakistan cricket who truly wants Pakistan to improve would not be supporting New Zealand tomorrow.
Mamoon, here's why I disagree with this:
1. The management HAS changed. Wasim Khan will be working on fixing the domestic system you blast every day, and the new cricket structure will encourage stronger competition at the top level of Pakistani cricket.
2. Mickey Arthur is a better coach than you give him credit for. Literally everyone could have quit after the India match. They could have just lost every game, crashed out of the tournament entirely, and the match against could have been a dead rubber against Bangladesh, just one more humiliation on the way back to Pakistan. Instead the team pulled their act together under his management and has now won three straight games and has a good shot to make that four in a row on Friday. That's AFTER losing 13 straight coming into this tournament. That takes incredible mental strength, fortitude, and determination.
3. Pakistan in the semis is a wild-card. Pakistan has already beaten two of the other three likely semifinal contestants. Maybe you're right and the law of averages catches up with Pakistan, and they get waxed by Australia. Or maybe the team, having won four straight matches on the trot for the chance to do something meaningful, wins because now, instead of yawning behind the stumps, is finally wide awake.
4. Everyone needs an example. A model for the next generation. What kid wouldn't want to be the one to blast India's top order of the next generation a la Amir in the CT2017 final? What kid wouldn't want to be the one to score a fighting century to lead Pakistan to victory like what Babar did last week? Greatness must be achieved through daily work, but without that dream as the journey, no one will ever make it! It is the dream of the destination that carries every great man, woman, and child through the hardest moments of their journey towards their goal.
Perhaps you will say "it's a wake up call!". Perhaps it is. But I get the feeling that at times you want the team to fail so you can revel in your "I told you so" moments yet another time. If we're going to be brutally honest, Pakistan's cricket is more affected by the country's economic situation than anything else. Cricket is best taught and developed from childhood, and it can't be taught well if it's not coached from the very start, with all the fundamentals and discipline that entails. You can't do that without money, which as you see, not particularly plentiful in Pakistan right now.
