Time to have a realistic attitude - Fantasies won't work

[Dr_Bassim]

There was a famous case somewhere (I purposely would not mention the name) because it would be disrespectful to the hospital and staff involved.

There were 5 patients who were supposed to be diagnosed with brain abscess according to their symptoms. The honorable doctor handed out the diagnoses and asked them to follow his recommendations.

All 5 of them succumbed to their diagnoses.

Lawsuits were filed, a huge hullabaloo was raised, and there was absolute mayhem and chaos.

Everyone in the hospital thought the doctor was at fault because before the hospital never had 5 patients dying at the same time.

The doctor was changed and next round of patients were seen. 4 of them died again after being diagnosed with infection.

The hospital declared a state of emergency and decided to find out what was the problem.

It turned out everyone in the hospital was not catching the infection. Only the people exposed to room 14 were catching the infection.

Finally they found the answer.

But by then 25 people had died.

What is the point of the entire story?

Today for the first time, I honestly thought most of the threads and posts were all over the place. Some demanded for the inclusion of Asif, others thought that replacing Younis Khan was the answer. Some even thought if you replace Misbah things would turn out better.

Amir was being hailed as a hero better than Starc by some fans, while others were calling him incredibly mediocre.

Salman Butt even found a place in the hearts of fans seeing the abysmal attitude of our team.

I can personally understand the frustration of many posters who follow the team even more zealously than me, but I have to tell people, we have to be really really realistic here.

There is a common perception in Pakistan that people sitting outside the team are world beaters, and there is concerted conspiracy to keep them out of the team. These people can be a bowler you like, or a batsmen you believe will be much better option than current batsman.

However this is a deeply flawed approach. A doctor can only treat what is in front of him. If he cannot find the source of infection, he cannot find the cause of infection. Similarly, if you cannot understand the source of team's problems, simply random shuffling of the players is unlikely to yield any tangible result.

For instance, if we sack Misbah today and make Babar Azam (or insert your favorite cricketer here) things will not magically change for the better. The source of the problem is still there. Changing doctors or patients won't change the end result.

Today if Pakistan is capitulating to 97-8 in 43 overs, lights are hardly to be blamed for a RR of 1.5 and 8 wickets hanging their bats to balls. The techniques are soft and it takes years of dedication to build such techniques.
Pakistan is not 97-8 today because Sharjeel didn't play. Neither did Australia get 429 because Asif was not flown in.

If mass people keep believing them, they don't realize the source of the problem, we are going to be in deep deep trouble for longer periods of time.

Its even more tragic and sad when I see deeply respected posters join the bandwagon of "he can't do worse than him". Actually the newcomer can "even do worse" than him. There is no golden rule in cricket that whoever comes into the team, must automatically be better than the one who is currently performing in the team.

Were that to be true, with the chopping and changing Pakistan do most of the time, we would have won the last 5 World Cups.

Also it's time to accept that domestic bullies in Pakistan are not really world class and selectors are blocking them. They are mostly limited batsmen because players like Kamran Akmal who is a renowned failure at international level is outscoring them. But more on that probably later.

The team has its basics right of course. They have batsmen who can bat and bowlers who can bowl. But have they bowled on such pitches before? Have they even acclimatized to the conditions before? Probably not.

My suggestions?

1. The road is going to be a hard and painful one. PCB has to arrange and plan tours so that we have at least 3 practice matches before the actual matches start.

2. Also A teams should definitely tour Australia and South Africa and all those places where they are supposed to find it tough. A teams should actually feature players who are on the fringes of selection and not nobodies who are never going to be selected.

3. It is time to invest in the future. Even if Mohammad Asif is Glenn McGrath reincarnated he is not going to light up Melbourne and Sydney just because he is flown in. He also needs time to acclimatize and unfortunately we don't have time. He doesn't have time either.

It's time to forget those Butt's, Akmals and Asif's that are on the twilight of their career.

We are going to lose with or without them. But at least lets make sure that some youngsters who are going to be core of the team for next 3 years are around when Pakistan tours Australia again in 2019.

One of the potentials is Babar Azam. He should be ready for the next tour in 2019 as an accomplished part of the middle order.

4. My point is not to give up hope or tell you guys it's going to end up in 3-0. It probably might all change tomorrow with a magical Amir and Sarfraz partnership.

But it is unlikely to happen? Why? Because the preparation has not been good enough.

Changing a different player will make no different to the result, unless the player is Usman Khawaja who has practiced day in day out at Brisbane.

5. Every new player should be given 5 test matches at least to show his mettle. Out of these 5, at least 2 tests should be in a foreign country where he won't get easy runs simply by playing out the surface.

Of course, if we follow my suggestions, it is just probable in 2019 we might see a bunch of players, who have repeatedly toured Australia with A teams, and are now in Pakistan team, and are young enough to make an impact.

Of course, we can also follow [MENTION=132916]Junaids[/MENTION] discussions and pretend that suddenly someone out of the blue will turn up in Australia and heroically change the fat of the cricket team.

Cricket teams are actually made, by repeated and concerted efforts, by practising day in and day out, by focusing on deficiencies and rectifying them.

Cricket teams are not conjured out of thin air based on 6 years beliefs, QEA finals performance or because of a would be favorite who performs once in a blue moon.

I have a deep founded romance with the Pakistan cricket team, but I wish people would see that it's not the fault of Misbah or Younis or even PCB.

This team is trying its best.

But it's best at the moment is much below what is expected. And sudden influx of players who are shining in domestics in Pakistan or sudden shuffling of captaincy won't change the outcome.

Let's support Amir and Sarfraz tomorrow, but let's also accept that this tour might be more tougher than we imagined but we can learn from it and make decisions that make the tour of 2019 finally more memorable.

 

[Fahdi]

I have read nothing new here Dr Sahab. The things you have said have been said by others and even myself repeatedly over years.

All your suggestions require a competent and dedicated administration and a sound system in place for domestic competitions and player development. We have none of that.

You have stated that we need to go to the root of the problem instead of treating what is right in front of us. I agree. But the root of the problem goes far deeper than you have penetrated.

Even if A-tours were arranged and a plan was put in place we have no guarantee that it will be executed fully because of an incompetent and even corrupt board put in place by political powers. People will be quick to point disparage this statement since they are tired of hearing fans complaining about the same darn thing.

Now lets say these tours are arranged. The players still have to be supplied by the domestic structure. The players need a basic set of skills and technical base to be able to truly learn and grow from these tours. Unfortunately our domestic structure is not good enough to provide that. We keep churning out bowlers who are average and best and batsmen with similar sort of technical issues.

Now lets say we set out to improve the domestic setup. For that we need money. Money comes from investors. Investors need to know whether they can yield profits. For that you need a good business model to present to them. I would like to add that Pakistan has great potential for wealthy domestic setup. There is great fan following on top of some good rivalries. Yet what we have at the moment is a bank playing the electricity distribution company in the final of our premiere FC tournament.

I can continue to go on and on about this but you get where I am getting at. The root of the problem goes far deeper. The problem has remained standing for far too long which is why in our nearly 60 years of cricket we have had moments in the sun but have failed to put forth a truly dominant team.

But I feel things are improving, slowly but improving still.

 

[AlphaFighter]

I dont give a damn about defeats but it is time the team regardless of skill level or skill set atleast plays with the attitude, passion and flair of the team of the 90's and early 2000's. To say the players are crap is riddiculous because we saw how the team played under Sarfaraz in the T-20's.

I dont care about 3-0 whitewashes, the team getting dismissed for 100-150 runs all out but i want the all outs to occur in 30 overs rather than 80 overs. Any batsman who shows constipation at the crease, plods around for 100 plus, 150 plus balls for 20-30 runs will be need to be given a final warning to shape up and raise his SR as per modern cricketing requirements or else the team management will find others who will. The team management needs to encourage the current lot to work hard and develop strokes all around the wicket i.e. the cut, pull, hook or look for players with all these strokes in their arsenal.

Players like Umar Akmal, Suhaib Maqsood, Sharjeel Khan and others need to be encouraged backed and not be scapegoated for every individual failure, team failure. They must be given a long rope.

Players like Azhar Ali, Asad Shafiq need to be warned to bat like real men or be booted out. The team has to be demisbahfied at every level.

 

[Gone]

POTW for me. Simple as that, bringing in players is not gonna change anything.

Every time a tour happens, someone in the fringes is the next messiah, it was junaid, M Irfan, Rahat, Amir, Jamshed.

Everyones ust come and gone. Now its Asif and Salman

 

[Flat_Track_Bully]

This can never happen because players like Kami and Hafeez literally harrass their way back into the team. Thats always been the problem.

Misbah spent 3 years with the same batter friends and didnt give debuts to new batters to keep their places. Now we are suffering. Blame the seniors.

 

[sjahmed23]

The problem is the entire worldvhas left us behind and we're still pointing fingers at each other. We refuse to learn and look for short cuts, when they really push us back further and further. People thought Amir will solve our bowling woes, I see no improvement in our fast bowling, infact we have bowlers who can produce similar performances as him and they are all dime a dozen. Our batting panics everytime they step outside asia or face reputable bowling attack, which tells you how mentally weak our cricketers are.

 

[yasir]

Doc [MENTION=43242]Dr_Bassim[/MENTION] you are not getting very basis thing about Cricket; its 'conditions, conditions, conditions'... Like in Realstate its 'location,location,location'... These conditions are completely opposite of UAE(high bounce Vs low, fast pace Vs slow, seam movement Vs no movement, swing Vs no swing) no matter who you play in the team or what process you adopt, you will never succeed...UAE conditions are very one dimensional(whole area is 50X50 miles, what do you expect?? - Pakistan used to have different conditions from Peshawar to Karachi, in some seasons there was swing, there was reverse swing, pace was factor...You are not going to develop Scientists in Madarasas or Churches, you need much better environment...

Pakistan got to find better home of Cricket, UAE is not working at all, we have worst batsmen of pace in all formats, worse than even BD/WI... Back in 80s/90s, when there was test schedule for Faisalabad or Multan, we used to switched off TV... Nobody cared about who made centuries in those desert field, bowlers did not get any runs... Now every home match is in desert, that is horrible...Nobody cares how many series we win in UAE, its not exciting to watch either... Pakistan Cricket is dead if we keep playing in UAE

As I mention in another thread, we don't have fast bowlers any more, who needs them in UAE, your superstars are spinners (First Ajmal and now Yasir)...Batting super stars are Misbah and YK, nobody with take them as 6th batsman outside Asia, yet we want to play them till 2020...This team is too old and too slow, well slowness is premium commodity in desert

 

[Junaids]

I am appalled by this thread.

I happen to agree about planning and administration.

But it is shocking to choose to ignore that

1. There are two 42+ year olds failing in the batting.

2. Better players a full decade younger are being ignored due to past offences for which they have served their sentences.

If you don't take your best players to Australia, what do you expect? It was expecting old and inferior players to succeed that was the "fantasy".

 

[TalentSpotterPk]

Doc [MENTION=43242]Dr_Bassim[/MENTION] you are not getting very basis thing about Cricket; its 'conditions, conditions, conditions'... Like in Realstate its 'location,location,location'... These conditions are completely opposite of UAE(high bounce Vs low, fast pace Vs slow, seam movement Vs no movement, swing Vs no swing) no matter who you play in the team or what process you adopt, you will never succeed...UAE conditions are very one dimensional(whole area is 50X50 miles, what do you expect?? - Pakistan used to have different conditions from Peshawar to Karachi, in some seasons there was swing, there was reverse swing, pace was factor...You are not going to develop Scientists in Madarasas or Churches, you need much better environment...

Pakistan got to find better home of Cricket, UAE is not working at all, we have worst batsmen of pace in all formats, worse than even BD/WI... Back in 80s/90s, when there was test schedule for Faisalabad or Multan, we used to switched off TV... Nobody cared about who made centuries in those desert field, bowlers did not get any runs... Now every home match is in desert, that is horrible...Nobody cares how many series we win in UAE, its not exciting to watch either... Pakistan Cricket is dead if we keep playing in UAE

As I mention in another thread, we don't have fast bowlers any more, who needs them in UAE, your superstars are spinners (First Ajmal and now Yasir)...Batting super stars are Misbah and YK, nobody with take them as 6th batsman outside Asia, yet we want to play them till 2020...This team is too old and too slow, well slowness is premium commodity in desert

You are not going to develop Scientists in Madaaris and Churches.

Good One.

Hasan Nisar says :

Har baat mein Aakhrat Aakhrat lagaee hoti hai tumharay jo dunya mein kartoot hein tumhein Aakhrat mein bhee kuch nai milna.


Pakistan is blessed to have all types of Surfaces. Now becauae of Lack of money and mismanagement we are not using all the pitches.

Gujranwala Cricket stadium pitch is the fastest and bounciest yet for last many years no match is played there.

Mirpur Azad Kashmir stadium aids maximum swing. Players can stay at Sangum Hotel. No match is played there.


Abbotabad stadium has lush outfoeld and pitch is good for swing bowling but it is not used now.


Sargodha & Faisalabad Cricket stadiums assist Spinners but no match is played there. Faisalabad is only used for T20's.


Grounds are not maintained well. Curators are neither taken care off nor they are trained. Except for One Haji sahib there is no one with experience of making good pitches. Haji Bashir. He too is now too old.

 

[kingusama92]

The biggest concern is are the best players being selected?

To correct a problem, you've got to start with the basics. Select players performing in domestic cricket and see how they hold up.

It's only possible to criticize the system when it's being tested. Right now, most leading performers in domestic cricket are watching from home.

Pick them and then criticize the system if its not working out. However, ripping the system a new one without assessing the talent is unfair.

 

[Abdullah]

we r winning this series inshaAllah.
there is nothing about these aussies that scared me.
we needed longer to acclimitise to the conditions. that is all
we need to make the most of our second dig.

 

[yasir]

You are not going to develop Scientists in Madaaris and Churches.

Good One.

Hasan Nisar says :

Har baat mein Aakhrat Aakhrat lagaee hoti hai tumharay jo dunya mein kartoot hein tumhein Aakhrat mein bhee kuch nai milna.


Pakistan is blessed to have all types of Surfaces. Now becauae of Lack of money and mismanagement we are not using all the pitches.

Gujranwala Cricket stadium pitch is the fastest and bounciest yet for last many years no match is played there.

Mirpur Azad Kashmir stadium aids maximum swing. Players can stay at Sangum Hotel. No match is played there.


Abbotabad stadium has lush outfoeld and pitch is good for swing bowling but it is not used now.


Sargodha & Faisalabad Cricket stadiums assist Spinners but no match is played there. Faisalabad is only used for T20's.


Grounds are not maintained well. Curators are neither taken care off nor they are trained. Except for One Haji sahib there is no one with experience of making good pitches. Haji Bashir. He too is now too old.

Lack of international crickets effects many things, including quality of grounds and local interest. Not to mention law and order effects overall interest in sports as well.

PSL showed how hungry people are for cricket, we don't realize how bad is entire ECO system of cricket in Pakistan. In last World Cup we were nobodies, now we are struggling to qualify. We have no starts left. Cricket is on slow death. Current model is not sustainable for one more decade.

 

[New Yorker]

The biggest concern is are the best players being selected?

To correct a problem, you've got to start with the basics. Select players performing in domestic cricket and see how they hold up.

It's only possible to criticize the system when it's being tested. Right now, most leading performers in domestic cricket are watching from home.

Pick them and then criticize the system if its not working out. However, ripping the system a new one without assessing the talent is unfair.

This. You build a system by being systematic. No one is a so called domestic
bully until they have actually been tested playing non-domestic cricket.

 

[Zohaib Shah]

You never know till you try. How do you know whats going to happen by picking a X player for a game? The results can change in matter of balls. Thats why we need to try the right talent and work with them on development. The reason we are losing is cause we got too many one dimensional players who know nothing more than tuk tuk. We need a mix of attack and defence. For that to happen you need a change of mind.

 

[shaz619]

I am appalled by this thread.

I happen to agree about planning and administration.

But it is shocking to choose to ignore that

1. There are two 42+ year olds failing in the batting.

2. Better players a full decade younger are being ignored due to past offences for which they have served their sentences.

If you don't take your best players to Australia, what do you expect? It was expecting old and inferior players to succeed that was the "fantasy".

It's not just about taking our best XI to AUS but our preparation was also awful for this tour in comparison to the camp for England

 

[The_Odd_One]

I don't know which youngsters is OP referring to. There is no youngster in this team except Sami and Babar and majority of the posters here are not even against them.

If some batsmen are out of form, they should be replaced. This is no rocket science. Australia replaced Voges and his replacement hit a century in this test. NZ replaced Guptill and his replacement won the test series against Pakistan.

 

[TQ89]

Bravo Doc. this is exactly what a lot of senior posters have been saying.

The reason our people think like that is because that is what the media tells them. I will give you my example. Before I started watching Dr Nauman & Rashid Latif, I had no idea about how poor our first class structure was, how the pitches were & how much regional cricket associations have a say in internal running of cricket.

I was shocked to say the least. But I guess you can't argue with folks. I got a lot of good friends & even after all the facts they wanna believe that we have inzi, wasim, waqar playing in every street of Pakistan & the current lot is just in the team to block all the "talent" that Pakistan has.

Truth be told, this team just doesn't have the skill nor does anybody in first class. The same guys that get derided in international cricket for their poor batting (Hafeez, Shoaib Malik, Ahmed Shahzad etc) appear like Sir Viv richards in our televised domestic T20 & First Class Matches. That is the best we can come up with at the moment & it is depressing.

 

[TQ89]

OP is talking about the long term which sadly nobody talks about for Pak cricket. It is not about winning this series. We dres Eng series & got number one few months back right.

But does that mean everything is Ok in first class. We have been in this mess ever since the 2003 world cup. This chopping & changing wont work. We need a better system.

Salman Butt & Asif aren't any better than their counterparts in team. According to that logic, Ahmed shehzad would have been the first pick befoe the eng series as he scored during the national cup like he was sehwag or somebody. Umer akmal can hit yaser arafat for 20 odd runs but scores 24(24) without a single boundary against new zealand in WC & then brags about strike rotation!!!

Well International teams don't have bowlers like yaser araft to bowl at these guys. Nor do they have mediocre batsmen that make guys like Kamran Akmal, Shehzad look like Bradman.