The state of developing batsmen in Pakistan

[unemployedgm]

Saeed Anwar was the last great opening batsman that Pakistan produced. He debuted in 1989. That is 30 years ago.

Mohammad Yusuf is the last great middle order batsman Pakistan produced. He debuted in 1998. That is approximately 20 years ago.

These two numbers better than maybe any other demonstrate the stagnancy if not the decline of the Pakistan Cricket Board. For about 30 years they have done absolutely nothing to build the organizational capacity, and the organizational structure to produce talented and well-developed cricketers. The bad news there is no end in sight.

 

[jaisan]

Babar Asam is yousuf's successor. Shan masood has shown promise in this series. But too early to tell anything about him now.

 

[Varun]

I'd add Younis Khan to that list as well.

Debut: 2000. However, he didn't particularly excel in the shorter format.

 

[Savak]

In the past we were blessed with naturally gifted batsmen who just needed a little bit of fine tuning and hard work. They could argue you either have it or you just don't. We have had plenty of naturally gifted players who never ironed out their chinks, weaknesses because of poor management, poor work ethic.

But Pakistan has never really historically developed batsmen as such. Don't think any player has ever paid tribute to a coach for developing his batting during his whole career. This is a sad indicement on the state of coaching in our cricket set up, too many people being over paid for doing nothing.

 

[unemployedgm]

In the past we were blessed with naturally gifted batsmen who just needed a little bit of fine tuning and hard work. They could argue you either have it or you just don't. We have had plenty of naturally gifted players who never ironed out their chinks, weaknesses because of poor management, poor work ethic.

But Pakistan has never really historically developed batsmen as such. Don't think any player has ever paid tribute to a coach for developing his batting during his whole career. This is a sad indicement on the state of coaching in our cricket set up, too many people being over paid for doing nothing.

There is no excuse for Pakistan not producing batsman. If the PCB made it a priority and understood how to develop a batsman we would be producing them. The PCB haven't made it a priority, the system and the structure is non-existent, and finally those in charge of analyzing batting talent simply lack the intellectual capacity to do so.

 

[Snak3eye5]

We need pcb to have some vision and give someone like Younis or Misbah a coaching job to under 17 and under 19 Pakistan youngsters so they can develop better and get good experience from players who have worked in the international space. I wish pcb could see that someone like Rahul Dravid is doing exactly that with the Indian team and developing the under 17 and under 19 Indian youngsters and they’re spewing out a plethora of good batsmen.

Not sure if it’s a case of Younis and Misbah not wanting to take such roles or they think it’s below their ego to take on such low level positions ? Or is it something where Younis or Misbah thinks that the pay would not be so great compared to what Rahul Dravid is making which I hear is in the millions almost comparable to what Ipl players are making and more ? Someone can confirm what Rahul makes as I’ve heard it’s a lot of money.

This is the only way we can get youngsters to get better as they get ready for first class international cricket by being coached by experienced players like Younis or Misbah.

 

[unemployedgm]

Misbah is unlikely to make a big difference. Although a professional that deserves our admiration, Misbah's style of play won't produce the batsman we need to compete at the highest level.

To develop good players you need these three things at minimum.

1. You need a good system. Our domestic system lacks alignment, context, and substance. This is even a bigger mess at age group level.

2. We need better coaching but you probably won't find that in Pakistan.

3. We need better infrastructure. Our pitches and the cricket balls we play with are completely below par.

Finally, in India kids begin playing with a hard ball at a younger age. They are playing proper cricket from a younger age.