What impact did regime change bring to Pakistan Cricket?

[Extra_Cover]

Let's address the elephant in the room here, I'm talking about the political regime change in Pakistan in April 2022. We are almost at the 4 year mark post the regime change and I wanted to simply highlight what this has bought to Pakistan. This is a cricket forum so this discussion is strictly related to cricket. We can pick any topic such as economy, environment, geopolitics, unemployment, etc and can have a different discussion using the same topic as to what regime change bought to Pakistan. However, we are strictly going to stick with cricket in this thread.

Let's first talk about Pakistan cricket prior to regime change. Pre-2022 Pakistan cricket.

1. Tournaments - Summary of recent tournaments pre-2022 era

Tournament	Finish	Comments
2022 T20 WC	Finalist	Lucky to reach the finals with plenty of injured players (Shaheen, Fakhar). Played bad cricket in the final but still fought with a modest total on board.
2021 T20 WC	Semi-Final	Best change Pakistan team had to win a tournament. Defeated India for first time, strong team morale and overall performances. Choked in the final leg of the semi-final match with dropped catch and below par energy.
2019 ODI WC	Group stage elimination	I'd say slightly unlucky to miss out on semi-final spot largely due to big loss to WI in first game. Still a tournament to forget with nothing home to write about.
2017 CT	Winner	Winners. Defeated India in final. Best moment in Pak cricket in the past decade.
2016 T20 WC	2nd group stage elimination	Tournament to forget. Couldn't pose a challenge to Australia, India and NZ in the group only defeated Bangladesh.

2. Rise of PSL and moving PSL back to Pakistan. PSL is Pakistan's flagship tournament and I'd like to say that moving PSL to Pakistan in the first couple of years were the best highs achieved by PSL till now.

3. Revamp of domestic cricket. This was such a bold step and absolutely necessary step for sake of Pakistan cricket. There were a lot of factions who did not like this step as QEA and other domestic tournaments previously housed a large number of cricketers and funded their families. However if Pakistan cricket need to progress further then such difficult steps need to be taken. Let's look at this from a different perspective. Pakistan is arguable a mid-tier team who would struggle against the top 5 or even top 6 teams in international circuit. Now to improve the quality of competition in the XI its important to have a tournament with only cream from domestic i.e. 6 teams. From this 6 teams we can ensure competition is steady and anyone who performs well in this circuit definitely deserves to be part of national XI. In my opinion this was a great initiative and very bold. Sad to see all of it go down in drain. Back in the day domestic performances were being kept an eye on and being discussed. Now no one even knows what's happening in domestic circuit.

4. Pakistan Junior League. I don't know who's idea it was, but whoever it was this idea was ahead of its time. PJL would have had an epic impact on Pakistan's cricket in as little as 4-5 year's time. This was such a brilliant idea that would have encouraged the youth to stick with cricket and become more competitive and international ready in very little time. I understand financially it wouldn't have been very viable but got to admit this was well ahead of its time.

5. Team morale and spirit. Whilst I don't agree with the notion that Babar was given a freehand and a lot of say in Pakistan cricket, I totally agree with the idea. Prosperity in Pakistan cricket is only secured when the captain at the helm is comfortable in his role, confident, ensures the discipline in the team, etc. Whilst Babar was not the right choice in the long-run we can still see till the time captain was at the helm of cricketing affairs the team morale was very good and there were no infightings and little controversies.

6. Digital marketing and social media. One thing that was going good pre-2022 is that Pakistan cricket was tapping into the ultra big market of social media in the best possible way. The Pakistan cricket channel was managed so much better. Domestic cricket being streamed on youtube. Player profiles improving via social media. There are tons of great opportunity on social media and it was handled at that time very well that helps in building the star status for players a its important in a country like Pakistan that stars exist so youngsters can have someone to look up to.

Let's move onto post-2022 era now.

1. Tournaments post-2022

Tournament	Finish	Comments
2023 ODI WC	Group stage elimination	Pakistan finished 5th on the table missing out on semi-final. However it was a tournament to forget for Pakistan with exception of win against SL. Yes Pakistan defeated NZ on D/L basis but we all know had the full game played out NZ were winning that one. Regardless sad tournament for Pakistan.
2024 T20 WC	Group stage elimination	Pakistan were defeated by USA leading to their exit from this tournament at very early stage. Disappointment.
2025 CT	Group stage elimination	The most embarrassing moment for Pakistan cricket in the past decade. The only tournament Pakistan hosted in 25 years where Pakistan's name was removed from broadcast, no representation from Pakistan in closing ceremony, main events like semi-final and final hosted out of Pakistan. Iconic Gaddafi stadium half-complete with no roof. Pakistan eliminated in 1st round with no wins and India winning the tournament. Embarrassment all round.
2026 T20 WC	2nd group stage elimination	Disappointing WC for Pakistan. Arguably the easiest 1st group followed by a NZ washout in 2nd group. Barely defeated SL. Nothing noteworthy to write about this tournament.

2. Political shenanigans. In the recent couple of years the political shenanigans have been the top most priority of PCB it seems. From agreeing to give away our flagship CT tournament to be hosted in Dubai, to making noise of boycott from T20 WC, to then backtracking on the claims and the the most embarrassing to runaway with Asia Cup trophy. From a neutral point of view this has become a joke now. Whilst India is to be blamed here equally our chest-thumping and shenanigans need to stop for sake of our cricket.

3. Politics everywhere. Right from the get go when the original domestic structure was bought back we could see leeches springing back into PCB to suck the life out of it again. Politics in PCB office for main roles, politics in team with infighting and backstabbing, politics in media to burn a player or hype another, political appointment right at the top. Our cricket is being destroyed in real time and we all can see it happening yet can't do much.

4. Domestic cricket destroyed, including downfall of PSL. Our domestic structure is completely destroyed. No one follows a 21 team QEA tournament or corporate brand running teams with full of parchi players. Even PSL is facing the brunt of this as previous couple of tournaments amazingly had a fall in overall viewership. Now by adding 2 further teams I don't think the viewership would improve any further.

5. Pakistan future tours program. There isn't much noise over this but something is brewing in the background. The FTP for 2027 onwards isn't released yet and what I fear is that Pakistan's tour of SENA nations would be significantly reduced. It has already been capped at 2 tests or so with England being exception with 3 tests but going forward the frequency of these tours are going to be reduced significantly. It doesn't help that Pakistan cricket has become so poor people aren't interested in watching Pakistan team play. Pakistan is going down Bangladesh route where getting a SENA tour would be like 1 in 4 years.

Overall, I just wanted to get a thread together to show the effects of a forced regime change in a country. I have only spoken about cricket in here which is the last thing that can be impacted by a regime change. The effects on something like economy including inflation and unemployment is massive, environment, brain fade, etc.

I would have missed so many points but wanted to keep it brief. Happy for posters to add any points I would have missed.

 

[Ahmed216]

Maybe normalcy returns once mohsin Naqvi and Aqib Javed are gone. That's really my only hope at the moment

 

[RyanRyan10]

Maybe normalcy returns once mohsin Naqvi and Aqib Javed are gone. That's really my only hope at the moment

And then we will Babar-Rizwan dominate World Cricket

 

[GudduBadmash]

Under Imran Khan, Pakistan’s domestic cricket structure was reduced to a smaller number of teams competing in the various domestic tournaments across formats. The aim was to concentrate the country’s best players into fewer squads, which helped create higher-quality matches and stronger competition. With limited places available, only the top-performing players were selected, increasing the overall standard of domestic cricket. The Regional structure of the tournaments created some of the best domestic tournaments in decades.


Later, under Mohsin Naqvi, the Pakistan Cricket Board expanded the number of domestic teams. While this allowed more players to participate, it also spread the talent pool across too many sides. As a result, players of lower quality were included in first-class teams, which reduced the overall standard of domestic matches.


This dilution of talent meant that some players were effectively batting against weaker bowling attacks or bowling to weaker batters, leading to inflated averages that did not accurately reflect their ability. Pitch conditions also became flatter and flatter further increasing scoring and exaggerating statistical performances. Essentially, some players who appeared successful in domestic cricket were exposed when competing at the international level against stronger opposition because when you go from facing mediocre level talent to suddenly facing players that have gone through to the national team on their own merit in their own domestic circuits you will be massively exposed. The depth in quality in that instance is enormous.

It is no coincidence that the quality of cricket the national team produced was much higher before 2022.
The current government took charge, put an incompetent man with zero cricketing knowledge in charge and he has proceeded to destroy the entire fabric of the cricket in the country with all the changes that he tried to implement.

Like I said it is easy to blame players but the person who deserves the most fault for this current shambles the National team finds itself in is Mohsin Naqvi

 

[Ahmed216]

And then we will Babar-Rizwan dominate World Cricket

So according to you we can't get any better than where we are at the moment?
We have reached great heights isn't it.
Stop running your propaganda and fooling our fans you cunning Indian

 

[GudduBadmash]

Maybe normalcy returns once mohsin Naqvi and Aqib Javed are gone. That's really my only hope at the moment

Need a cricketer in charge with past experiences of identifying genuine talent as a selector or chairman, a businessman with zero cricket knowledge is not it

 

[Kianig89]

Exactly this Mohsin Naqvi group is leading cricket fate towards Pakistan Hockey.

 

[Extra_Cover]

Maybe normalcy returns once mohsin Naqvi and Aqib Javed are gone. That's really my only hope at the moment

If normalcy means being a top 4 team in the world and consistently playing good cricket then that can only be achieved with the right structure in place. We need to have self-functioning system in place that ensures the quality of players keeps improving. It took years to setup the previous domestic structure and in a jiffy it got destroyed and replaced with the old one. The change is not going to be overnight with change in personnel, it will again take a long time to come into effect.

 

[Rana]

And then we will Babar-Rizwan dominate World Cricket

Great answer mate

These clowns recon everything revolves around their pathetic brand of cricket.

Pakistan is suffering because the previous ‘regime’ empowered donkeys as if they are stallions

 

[GudduBadmash]

If normalcy means being a top 4 team in the world and consistently playing good cricket then that can only be achieved with the right structure in place. We need to have self-functioning system in place that ensures the quality of players keeps improving. It took years to setup the previous domestic structure and in a jiffy it got destroyed and replaced with the old one. The change is not going to be overnight with change in personnel, it will again take a long time to come into effect.

Correct

In completely non political context, Imran Khan is one of the best cricketers, talent spotters and captains in the history of Pakistan cricket. It takes a mind like that to transform cricket in your country from mediocre to high quality. All it took was a politician with no direction to completely derail what was implemented.

 

[Rana]

Alhamdolillah. Never again the following guys who destroyed Pakistan cricket:

1. Imran Khan
2. Wasim Khan
3. Ramiz Raja
4. Misbah ul Haq
5. Saqlain Mushtaq
6. Muhammad Waseem
7. Mohammad Rizwan

 

[GudduBadmash]

Great answer mate

These clowns recon everything revolves around their pathetic brand of cricket.

Pakistan is suffering because the previous ‘regime’ empowered donkeys as if they are stallions

This thread is not even about Babar or Rizwan but here you are again

Genuinely think you need to get some therapy, the obsession is concerning

 

[Kianig89]

Naqvi' s vision : Making that pathetic rellu katta the T20 Captain who has no performance

Naqvis Vision: Making SSA the Captain when clearly lacks fitness for ODIs

============
Until this polisher is in charge, Pakistan cricket will continue to suffer

 

[Kianig89]

Alhamdolillah. Never again the following guys who destroyed Pakistan cricket:

1. Imran Khan
2. Wasim Khan
3. Ramiz Raja
4. Misbah ul Haq
5. Saqlain Mushtaq
6. Muhammad Waseem
7. Mohammad Rizwan

Wow Imran Khan destroyed Pakistan cricket sums up your cricket acumen

 

[Rana]

This thread is not even about Babar or Rizwan but here you are again

Genuinely think you need to get some therapy, the obsession is concerning

It is about Babar and Rizwan.

Who was blackmailing Sethi and co. On the eve of the 2023 World Cup?????

 

[GudduBadmash]

Wow Imran Khan destroyed Pakistan cricket sums up your cricket acumen

I read it and ignored it, anyone that says one of the greatest cricketers we have ever produced destroyed cricket in the country has zero cricket IQ.

People like that use emotional based narratives as opposed to practical. Assuming he is a Noon League supporter so needs to hate one of the greatest cricketers ever to point score just because he was a political rival to the party he supports

 

[Kianig89]

Naqvi bought Kirsten , then Aaqib schemed things and Kirsten left

Then Gillespie came in , he was kept in dark , henceforth he walked away.

Now Mike Hesson who either has lost the plot or is once again pegged by Aaqib.

Enough of this nonsense

 

[Ahmed216]

You are a jerk , if you think Imran Khan destroyed Pakistan cricket , I will never reply to you, its insult replying to a fool

I understood that a long time back

 

[GudduBadmash]

It is about Babar and Rizwan.

Who was blackmailing Sethi and co. On the eve of the 2023 World Cup?????

 

[RyanRyan10]

So according to you we can't get any better than where we are at the moment?
We have reached great heights isn't it.
Stop running your propaganda and fooling our fans you cunning Indian

@Rana I am running an agenda and @Devadwal is a well wisher of Pakistan

 

[Devadwal]

Naqvi is completely runied the Pakistan cricket. This is what happened what you chose the incompetent people's to lead the PCB.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Regime change for PCB was a bad idea. The things that we have lost are

1. A good domestic structure - our domestic cricket was finally taking some shape. You cannot have a 20+ team domestic tournament in Pakistan, the quantity & quality to have a strong competition at that level just do not exist. England works because the counties are their own entities and have a long standing history. The Lions program also is a totally separate program that filters all the really talented players in the counties and gives them opportunities outside county cricket for skill improvement.

2. PJL - Yes it was expensive and yes it was a financial disaster but it was a great experiment & it should have continued. Shamyl, Ali Raza, & Sameer to name a few are all PJL products (Sameer was 1 of the 100 talented cricketers who got PCB scholarship). Taking care of the 100 best young players so they can navigate their future career was a brilliant idea. So many of those players are now totally lost and we will never even see them in domestic cricket.

3. Imran Khan should have changed the constitution of cricket board but even when he didn't, he let a cricketer run the board. That adds a degree of respect instead of some nepo-unc who is living in fantasy land.

4. Things like the OTT platform for PCB, the hotel for players in Lahore so they don't have to travel, & reaching out to overseas Pakistanis were great initiatives. The PCBs hurried renovation of GSL was good but they didn't complete the hotel for the players which was almost as necessary as the stadium itself. All of this is just due to the regime change.

5. There's definitely a segment of youth that has stopped caring for cricket post regime change. This is not a hard fact but now Pak cricket team is seen as an extension of the government. A lot of people who used to support the team without any bias do not feel the same. They don't even need to change the government, just get political appointees out of the system and let some non-political person run it to get the trust back of the fanbase. Outside a few influencers, no one even gets angry when the team loses because people are not used to winning anymore. These are signs of a dying system.

 

[jnaveen1980]

Naqvi is completely runied the Pakistan cricket. This is what happened what you chose the incompetent people's to lead the PCB.

His finest achievement is running away with trophy lol

 

[sweep_shot]

Pakistan did well in 2025. Went to Asia Cup final. Won multiple series (including 2 tri-series). Won the U-19 Asia Cup and U-19 Emerging Asia Cup.

2023-2024 was poor, however.

Let's see how 2026 goes.

 

[Josh]

Regime change for PCB was a bad idea. The things that we have lost are

1. A good domestic structure - our domestic cricket was finally taking some shape. You cannot have a 20+ team domestic tournament in Pakistan, the quantity & quality to have a strong competition at that level just do not exist. England works because the counties are their own entities and have a long standing history. The Lions program also is a totally separate program that filters all the really talented players in the counties and gives them opportunities outside county cricket for skill improvement.

2. PJL - Yes it was expensive and yes it was a financial disaster but it was a great experiment & it should have continued. Shamyl, Ali Raza, & Sameer to name a few are all PJL products (Sameer was 1 of the 100 talented cricketers who got PCB scholarship). Taking care of the 100 best young players so they can navigate their future career was a brilliant idea. So many of those players are now totally lost and we will never even see them in domestic cricket.

3. Imran Khan should have changed the constitution of cricket board but even when he didn't, he let a cricketer run the board. That adds a degree of respect instead of some nepo-unc who is living in fantasy land.

4. Things like the OTT platform for PCB, the hotel for players in Lahore so they don't have to travel, & reaching out to overseas Pakistanis were great initiatives. The PCBs hurried renovation of GSL was good but they didn't complete the hotel for the players which was almost as necessary as the stadium itself. All of this is just due to the regime change.

5. There's definitely a segment of youth that has stopped caring for cricket post regime change. This is not a hard fact but now Pak cricket team is seen as an extension of the government. A lot of people who used to support the team without any bias do not feel the same. They don't even need to change the government, just get political appointees out of the system and let some non-political person run it to get the trust back of the fanbase. Outside a few influencers, no one even gets angry when the team loses because people are not used to winning anymore. These are signs of a dying system.

Do youngsters really need a junior league? Youngsters need more FC exposure, focus on long batting, fitness and other stuff

 

[Kianig89]

Pakistan did well in 2025. Went to Asia Cup final. Won multiple series (including 2 tri-series). Won the U-19 Asia Cup and U-19 Emerging Asia Cup.

2023-2024 was poor, however.

Let's see how 2026 goes.

They were all meaningless series.

The only gauge to judge Pakistan' 2025 is CT failure & 3-0 from India

 

[Savak]

PCB administrations always fluctuate with changes in government. However the players are the ones who always stay. Pakistan's core group of players have been a constant for the last 7-10 years i.e. Babar, Rizwan, Shaheen, Shadab, Rauf, Naseem, Fakhar, Nawaz, Faheem e.t.c. They have received way more than enough chances than countries like India, Australia, England, South Africa would have allowed them. Their ultimate currency is performance. They have to perform and deliver regardless of what goes on in the PCB.

 

[ads101]

Ruined Pakistan cricket pretty much.

 

[shah9425]

This current setup has completely ruined our cricket

We are laughing stock now

 

[Extra_Cover]

Regime change for PCB was a bad idea. The things that we have lost are

1. A good domestic structure - our domestic cricket was finally taking some shape. You cannot have a 20+ team domestic tournament in Pakistan, the quantity & quality to have a strong competition at that level just do not exist. England works because the counties are their own entities and have a long standing history. The Lions program also is a totally separate program that filters all the really talented players in the counties and gives them opportunities outside county cricket for skill improvement.

2. PJL - Yes it was expensive and yes it was a financial disaster but it was a great experiment & it should have continued. Shamyl, Ali Raza, & Sameer to name a few are all PJL products (Sameer was 1 of the 100 talented cricketers who got PCB scholarship). Taking care of the 100 best young players so they can navigate their future career was a brilliant idea. So many of those players are now totally lost and we will never even see them in domestic cricket.

3. Imran Khan should have changed the constitution of cricket board but even when he didn't, he let a cricketer run the board. That adds a degree of respect instead of some nepo-unc who is living in fantasy land.

4. Things like the OTT platform for PCB, the hotel for players in Lahore so they don't have to travel, & reaching out to overseas Pakistanis were great initiatives. The PCBs hurried renovation of GSL was good but they didn't complete the hotel for the players which was almost as necessary as the stadium itself. All of this is just due to the regime change.

5. There's definitely a segment of youth that has stopped caring for cricket post regime change. This is not a hard fact but now Pak cricket team is seen as an extension of the government. A lot of people who used to support the team without any bias do not feel the same. They don't even need to change the government, just get political appointees out of the system and let some non-political person run it to get the trust back of the fanbase. Outside a few influencers, no one even gets angry when the team loses because people are not used to winning anymore. These are signs of a dying system.

The 5th point highlighted above is of utmost importance. Every great sporting nation needs rolemodels / heroes / stars that they can dream to be one day. This is the case in every youngster. There is a reason why Pakistan was called a factory that produces non-stop fast bowlers because guys adored Imran Khan in 80s and Wasim / Waqar in 90s. This led to guys like Akhtar, Asif, Gul, Aamir, Sami, Irfan come through the ranks. Look at our case now our fast bowling stock is bare and even in u19s we don't see any major talent propping through.

The youth need heroes to up their game. In 2022 the hero status was being enjoyed by Babar especially, yes he had a major downfall since then but PCB should have somehow preserved Babar's status. Potentially taking away captaincy in 2022 after England T20 loss or having some consultations setup so he bats lower in the order or retire early from T20s. Its important to have hero status for the youth of the country to look up to.

There are definite signs that the interest in cricket is dying down in the country. Like every other industry the youth is convinced that to break into national side you need to have some sort of backing or know someone who can push open the door for you unless you are a generational talent. When merit dies in an organisation then competition dies too and results are below par.

 

[Rana]

, if you think Imran Khan destroyed Pakistan cricket , I will never reply to you,

Oh no, what am I to do if you don’t ever reply to me???

Nooooooo!!!!!






Oh well. I’ll say it again.

IMRAN KHAN IS EQUALLY COMPLICIT IN DESTROYING PAKISTAN CRICKET

There, what now?

 

[Savak]

From Ehsan Mani and Wasim Khan, we have slid to Naqvi and his bureacrats from the Punjab government in the PCB. Salman Naseer is officially the PSL CEO but he is not able to focus all his attention to PSL matters because the PCB CEO Summair is not well versed in PCB, ICC matters, laws/regulations which is why Salman Naseer is always pulled in to help everyone else and represent PCB in ICC meetings.

On top of that you have Aqib Javed who has been given a free hand to dictate things behind the scenes.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Do youngsters really need a junior league? Youngsters need more FC exposure, focus on long batting, fitness and other stuff

Yes. The youngsters need PJL. More importantly youngsters need an incentive to play cricket and FC can never be for everyone or enough of a venture to provide employment opportunities & that too for 17 year old kids.

We need to understand that Pakistan does not have pathway cricket. Most of the people who are playing cricket come from families who do not have the means or resources & their path is purely based on chance/luck. Let's take the case of Babar - he became what he is because his dad was supportive and also had the opportunity to take him to practice sessions on his bike. Sameer Minhas is another example, his dad was a former FC cricket so when his kids showed interest in cricket, he knew what to do. It was also great that Sameer was earmarked at an early age and started getting PCB scholarship.

PJLs fault was that it tried to mirror PSL and that model was flawed. If they tweaked it a bit & made a few compromises specially in terms of broadcast contract or used it as curtain raiser for PSL, it would have been a downright success. The 100 is still using women cricket as a curtain raiser & it gets the audience and the attention. It also frees PSL from having mandatory one U19 player which dilutes the quality of an already low quality competition.

The downright scrapping of the concept just because it wasn't your brainchild is just cruel as it showed that there were many players who had the potential but they are now nowhere in the domestic setup.

 

[Josh]

Yes. The youngsters need PJL. More importantly youngsters need an incentive to play cricket and FC can never be for everyone or enough of a venture to provide employment opportunities & that too for 17 year old kids.

We need to understand that Pakistan does not have pathway cricket. Most of the people who are playing cricket come from families who do not have the means or resources & their path is purely based on chance/luck. Let's take the case of Babar - he became what he is because his dad was supportive and also had the opportunity to take him to practice sessions on his bike. Sameer Minhas is another example, his dad was a former FC cricket so when his kids showed interest in cricket, he knew what to do. It was also great that Sameer was earmarked at an early age and started getting PCB scholarship.

PJLs fault was that it tried to mirror PSL and that model was flawed. If they tweaked it a bit & made a few compromises specially in terms of broadcast contract or used it as curtain raiser for PSL, it would have been a downright success. The 100 is still using women cricket as a curtain raiser & it gets the audience and the attention. It also frees PSL from having mandatory one U19 player which dilutes the quality of an already low quality competition.

The downright scrapping of the concept just because it wasn't your brainchild is just cruel as it showed that there were many players who had the potential but they are now nowhere in the domestic setup.

It's a good to have item but not necessary

I believe grassroot academies, strong club cricket and strong first class system is much more important. My assessment from outside is Pakistan lacks big time in these and whatever structure is there, it isn't run very effectively either.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

We had an umpire in the selection committee, I rest my case.

 

[charlie007]

His finest achievement is running away with trophy.

Not his fault - Field Marshall told him “no excuses, bring the trophy home”!!

 

[Savak]

If I was in the PCB, I would try to recruit low key coaches from England, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka and encourage them to work with U13, U16, U19, Emerging Teams, Shaheens team, Regional teams, Departments team and the National Academies and give them 3-5 year tenures with full freedom to work, selection powers, authority and task them to train up Pakistans next generation of players and coaches so that every upcoming player models to have fitness like Kohli and has a modern, professional approach to the game. This way by the time a player comes into the Pakistani side, he is fully ready. This is the only step I think the PCB can take on a war footing to stop the decline of Pakistan Cricket. This won't yield immediate results but you might start seeing positives in around 5-10 years time.

 

[BunnyRabbit]

Ramiz, Najam, Zaka and Naqvi all are equally complicit in damaging Pak Cricket.
The sad thing is none of these will be held accountable for that in this life.

 

[TheRock]

This is overreaction by the fans. Pak did well to reach AsiaCup 2025 Final. Even SENA teams hv never been able to reach the AsiaCup Final.

 

[sweep_shot]

We had an umpire in the selection committee, I rest my case.

Aleem Dar?

Yeah. That was odd. Never seen an umpire being a selector before.

Anyway, Aleem is a decent guy.

 

[BouncerGuy]

We had an umpire in the selection committee, I rest my case.

If aaqib can stay in the selection committee and has more control than anyone after his pathetic choices, then anyone can...

Aaqib and Misbah need to go... Naqvi has been a curse for Pakistan so far.. Things have gone from bad to worse.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

It's a good to have item but not necessary

I believe grassroot academies, strong club cricket and strong first class system is much more important. My assessment from outside is Pakistan lacks big time in these and whatever structure is there, it isn't run very effectively either.

It is necessary when grass root structure is non existent.

It takes decades to build grassroot structure and there's no one in Pakistan who has such itemized and detailed level vision to develop something like that. We have cities that are bigger than the population of some countries but there are no stadiums or grounds for children to play. It is now almost impossible to have grounds within dense cities as cost of land has skyrocketed & there's also no free space left.

School cricket has issues because education is now part of private sector. Most schools are built in cramped up buildings where there is no ability for anyone to play. Just go to google maps and see Lahore for example. Go over Wapda town or Johar town area and you'll see that it's a concrete jungle & a little building will be marked as "New Knowledge Academy".

Lahore is our second biggest city & grounds there are non-existent. There's one in Model Town (dungi ground) & then one on Wahdat road which even had lights & you could rent it for a few hours to play cricket but it's a tape ball ground only. There are a couple of smaller grounds/academies but that's about it. Places like Nishtar complex where GSL is are out of bound for ordinary people and most go to Manto Park to play which does not allow proper cricket.

In an ideal world, there should be 200-1000 schools with cricket grounds just in Lahore but that is not happening.

PJL was necessary. It could have been expanded to 40 overs cricket as well overtime. Removing it is just debilitating your cricket unnecessarily. It's not that they don't waste money, it's just that they never want to spend it on real things that matter.

 

[JaDed]

I dont recall @Ahmed216 being negative about PCT .. PCT must be doing bad if he is worried.. as an Indian observer have seen PCT always being super inconsistent..

 

[Josh]

It is necessary when grass root structure is non existent.

It takes decades to build grassroot structure and there's no one in Pakistan who has such itemized and detailed level vision to develop something like that. We have cities that are bigger than the population of some countries but there are no stadiums or grounds for children to play. It is now almost impossible to have grounds within dense cities as cost of land has skyrocketed & there's also no free space left.

School cricket has issues because education is now part of private sector. Most schools are built in cramped up buildings where there is no ability for anyone to play. Just go to google maps and see Lahore for example. Go over Wapda town or Johar town area and you'll see that it's a concrete jungle & a little building will be marked as "New Knowledge Academy".

Lahore is our second biggest city & grounds there are non-existent. There's one in Model Town (dungi ground) & then one on Wahdat road which even had lights & you could rent it for a few hours to play cricket but it's a tape ball ground only. There are a couple of smaller grounds/academies but that's about it. Places like Nishtar complex where GSL is are out of bound for ordinary people and most go to Manto Park to play which does not allow proper cricket.

In an ideal world, there should be 200-1000 schools with cricket grounds just in Lahore but that is not happening.

PJL was necessary. It could have been expanded to 40 overs cricket as well overtime. Removing it is just debilitating your cricket unnecessarily. It's not that they don't waste money, it's just that they never want to spend it on real things that matter.

Thanks for the detailed insight, that’s a very fair ground-level perspective. You’re right that in a place where proper grassroots infrastructure is almost non-existent, something like PJL at least creates some visibility and opportunity for youngsters who might otherwise never get noticed.

At the same time though, the long-term fix still has to be building the base. Grassroots development takes time, but the process has to start somewhere; brick by brick. Even if leagues like PJL provide short-term exposure, the real pipeline will only come when school, club and community cricket structures slowly start taking shape alongside it.

 

[Muhammad Saad]

We need maximum number of teams playing domestic cricket because there is no merit in Pakistan so a talented upcoming youngster will never get in to fewer team domestic cricket because it will be hogged by senior cricketers , however the filter should be there like all format pentangular cup which consist of high performing players from the initial domestic tournament.

I like the fact that Naqvi has finally started giving some importance to grass root cricket and may be we will be back on track in next 5 years.

 

[Rana]

@Kianig89

IMRAN KHAN IS EQUALLY COMPLICIT IN DESTROYING PAKISTAN CRICKET

Lo aik dafa phir keh diya. What are you going to do about it?

 

[BouncerGuy]

NO PERSONAL REMARKS NOW

STAY ON TOPIC OR LEAVE

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

We need maximum number of teams playing domestic cricket because there is no merit in Pakistan so a talented upcoming youngster will never get in to fewer team domestic cricket because it will be hogged by senior cricketers , however the filter should be there like all format pentangular cup which consist of high performing players from the initial domestic tournament.

I like the fact that Naqvi has finally started giving some importance to grass root cricket and may be we will be back on track in next 5 years.

I would like to know the details of the grassroot cricket initiatives that you are talking about. Thanks.

 

[shariqnoor]

Condensing the domestic structure to 5-6 teams was one of the biggest disasters of Pakistan cricket.

What you can do is hold an end-of-season 5-team tournament with the best-performing players of the season. But to create an entire domestic structure around 5 teams is madness for a nation of 250 million. Imran Khan is responsible for this ridiculous idea and needs to be condemned most severely. Departments have always been the lifeline of Pakistan cricket and they should be credited for their efforts, not ridiculed.

What Pakistan needs to do is to try to get cricket back into the elite circles. Right now, all our cricketers are coming from poor backgrounds. It may sound elitist, but cricketers who have a sound educational background are more likely to succeed in international cricket. That's a fact.

PJL was just a gimmick. Nothing more. It was a costly exercise with no tangible benefits. Good that it got binned. U-17 guys playing amongst themselves is not going to do them any good. A good U-17 player needs to be playing with the big boys to upskill himself.

 

[Local.Dada]

WI, Pak, SL type teams will still once in a while win something or over perform despite having some of the worst run cricket boards.

It’s not like WI board was great when they won 2 WT20s. Both happened in the IPL era were most WI’s openly hated their board.

SL too has similar administrative issues and still won a WT20 just recently, won an Asia cup.

Pak winning CT or doing well in WT20 has nothing to do with the board. I don’t see any revolutionary good or bad decision by any Pak board. Just like the political system, anyone in power in Pak spouts the same rhetoric lol.

Pak has a decent middling white ball side which . It can upset a big team on its day or lose to minnows.

Pak will continue to produce competitive cricketers. However it is not a sustainable model and it will get weaker and weaker like we see with SL or WI if structures are not set. SL seems to be improving though.

Bangladesh will bounce back. They are more process oriented, they might have learnt their lesson the hard way iykyk.

 

[hassan918]

Bangladesh will bounce back. They are more process oriented, they might have learnt their lesson the hard way iykyk.

The process hasn't improved their cricket a great deal in the last couple of decades. What could be the reason for this?

 

[GudduBadmash]

Condensing the domestic structure to 5-6 teams was one of the biggest disasters of Pakistan cricket.

What you can do is hold an end-of-season 5-team tournament with the best-performing players of the season. But to create an entire domestic structure around 5 teams is madness for a nation of 250 million. Imran Khan is responsible for this ridiculous idea and needs to be condemned most severely. Departments have always been the lifeline of Pakistan cricket and they should be credited for their efforts, not ridiculed.

What Pakistan needs to do is to try to get cricket back into the elite circles. Right now, all our cricketers are coming from poor backgrounds. It may sound elitist, but cricketers who have a sound educational background are more likely to succeed in international cricket. That's a fact.

PJL was just a gimmick. Nothing more. It was a costly exercise with no tangible benefits. Good that it got binned. U-17 guys playing amongst themselves is not going to do them any good. A good U-17 player needs to be playing with the big boys to upskill himself.

This is not true though, it diluted the quality of cricket

Australia One Day Cup and The Sheffield Shield its premier FC tournament have a max number of 6 teams, this ensures only the best players are selected from each province which automatically means higher quality of cricket, higher pool of quality players on show, it ensures only the best players are picked for the national team.

Going to a 18 Team Format meant very clearly that lower quality players were selected which lead to lower quality matches, lower quality pool of players on display, this also enables the decent players to stat pad massively at the expense of mediocre cricketers, then these same guys are heavily exposed in the international circuit.

There is a reason Australia is so successful but yeah sure lets stick to the format of a large number of teams and do the complete opposite of what an actual successful team does just because and I assume it is due to the fact you are also using political reasoning to criticise Imran Khan

 

[Local.Dada]

The process hasn't improved their cricket a great deal in the last couple of decades. What could be the reason for this?

They won the U-19 wc a couple of years back. I think they beat the India u-19 team that had Jaiswal.

They have been pretty good at winning at home especially bilateral odis on tailor made pitches (which is fair)

They don’t have the natural flair talent you see in Pak, WI but whatever they achieved is due to a good structure and building on whatever talent they get.

You don’t hear stories of great talents lost in the system like you hear in India and Pak.

They make the best use of whatever talent they get from my observation.

Obviously some of their fans maybe delusional or irritate you into forming some biases but usually they have a decent run cricket board.

 

[shariqnoor]

This is not true though, it diluted the quality of cricket

Australia One Day Cup and The Sheffield Shield its premier FC tournament have a max number of 6 teams, this ensures only the best players are selected from each province which automatically means higher quality of cricket, higher pool of quality players on show, it ensures only the best players are picked for the national team.

Going to a 18 Team Format meant very clearly that lower quality players were selected which lead to lower quality matches, lower quality pool of players on display, this also enables the decent players to stat pad massively at the expense of mediocre cricketers, then these same guys are heavily exposed in the international circuit.

There is a reason Australia is so successful but yeah sure lets stick to the format of a large number of teams and do the complete opposite of what an actual successful team does just because and I assume it is due to the fact you are also using political reasoning to criticise Imran Khan

You do realize that Australia is a nation of 30 million, right? Cricket is not even their top sport. Their talent pool is very limited, which is why 6 teams for them make sense.

Pakistan is 8 times bigger than Australia in terms of population, and where only 1 sport is mostly played. It's incredibly silly of anyone to compare Australia's model to Pakistan's on-ground realities.

Also, if reducing teams is the best way to ensure quality cricket, then why does India have 38 teams in its Ranji Trophy? Are they stupid? Why don't they reduce it to 5 teams so that they unearth Bumrah's and Kohli's every year?

 

[Local.Dada]

You do realize that Australia is a nation of 30 million, right? Cricket is not even their top sport. Their talent pool is very limited, which is why 6 teams for them make sense.

Pakistan is 8 times bigger than Australia in terms of population, and where only 1 sport is mostly played. It's incredibly silly of anyone to compare Australia's model to Pakistan's on-ground realities.

Also, if reducing teams is the best way to ensure quality cricket, then why does India have 38 teams in its Ranji Trophy? Are they stupid? Why don't they reduce it to 5 teams so that they unearth Bumrah's and Kohli's every year?

Population etc is just a bs excuse, some people use as a crutch to undermine India’s accomplishments usually.

Australia has a sporting culture. It has a strong school system where sports are encouraged and people get scholarships to top colleges on athletic credentials.

Same happens in USA and other developed countries.

In India or Pak, the only option is to make it as an athlete otherwise you have to give up your dreams due to other responsibilities.

Also interest in the sport matters. Chinese people are obsessed with NBA. Some Chinese origin folks have made it to the NBA too but on that logic, China should have most players in NBA and have the best superstars due to their population.

there are always some African marathon runner from some obscure African country winning gold etc in Olympics. Is that due to population?

 

[khyberlion]

This is not true though, it diluted the quality of cricket

Australia One Day Cup and The Sheffield Shield its premier FC tournament have a max number of 6 teams, this ensures only the best players are selected from each province which automatically means higher quality of cricket, higher pool of quality players on show, it ensures only the best players are picked for the national team.

Going to a 18 Team Format meant very clearly that lower quality players were selected which lead to lower quality matches, lower quality pool of players on display, this also enables the decent players to stat pad massively at the expense of mediocre cricketers, then these same guys are heavily exposed in the international circuit.

There is a reason Australia is so successful but yeah sure lets stick to the format of a large number of teams and do the complete opposite of what an actual successful team does just because and I assume it is due to the fact you are also using political reasoning to criticise Imran Khan

People are also forgetting that there was 2nd 11 team for each team. Now you see 40 year old uncles playing. This is not going to help anyone. There are like a million tournament which are poorly organized with the schedule and squad being released a day before the tournament starts. The less said about the pitches the better.

 

[Extra_Cover]

Condensing the domestic structure to 5-6 teams was one of the biggest disasters of Pakistan cricket.

What you can do is hold an end-of-season 5-team tournament with the best-performing players of the season. But to create an entire domestic structure around 5 teams is madness for a nation of 250 million. Imran Khan is responsible for this ridiculous idea and needs to be condemned most severely. Departments have always been the lifeline of Pakistan cricket and they should be credited for their efforts, not ridiculed.

What Pakistan needs to do is to try to get cricket back into the elite circles. Right now, all our cricketers are coming from poor backgrounds. It may sound elitist, but cricketers who have a sound educational background are more likely to succeed in international cricket. That's a fact.

PJL was just a gimmick. Nothing more. It was a costly exercise with no tangible benefits. Good that it got binned. U-17 guys playing amongst themselves is not going to do them any good. A good U-17 player needs to be playing with the big boys to upskill himself.

This is a poor argument. Having more teams simply because of the population is totally absurd. The right mix of teams that can generate the best competition is the only answer.

Pakistan is a mid to low tier team in international cricket. This means that Pakistan struggles to put forward 11 players in the national team that can compete with top teams. Now in a domestic structure where we have 20+ teams the competition is totally diluted as a random rickshaw driver would pile on century after century as he is facing another random wagon driver. However when we have 6 teams with a pool of 100 odd players who's only profession is cricket then selecting top 11 out of this pool will give you better chance of competing with likes of Australia or India. There would not be a rickshaw driver playing for Australia so we don't need one playing for Pakistan too.

People often forget or completely ignore the part that the 6 team domestic structure also had a 6 team domestic B structure. The purpose of B domestic structure was to ensure the players who didn't got into A structure still gets to play competitive cricket and top players in the B structure would be elevated into A structure whilst poor performing players in A structure to be relegated to B structure. This would ensure the competition remains tough throughout the season. For people who don't get the positive side of this structure are either ones wearing hate tinted glasses or are simply one's who have tunnel vision and lack the understanding of a bigger picture.

As far as PJL is concerned. I have said it obviously above that this was a masterstroke and well ahead of its time. In the first season itself we saw tremendous participation from all nations excluding India. All SENA nations were sending their best young talents to play in Pakistan. What this would have meant is tough competition amongst kids ensuring they have mental toughness when they arrive on the international stage. Mental toughness is one element we severely lack in international games. Also not to forget it would be 7 Pakistani's getting best experience compared to 4 overseas players in a team. Meaning in a tournament of 5 teams atleast 35 Pakistani youngsters would be getting best experience to capitalize on for future. Of these 35 young cricketers even if 7 goes onto represent Pakistan then that is a success in itself.

 

[GudduBadmash]

You do realize that Australia is a nation of 30 million, right? Cricket is not even their top sport. Their talent pool is very limited, which is why 6 teams for them make sense.

Pakistan is 8 times bigger than Australia in terms of population, and where only 1 sport is mostly played. It's incredibly silly of anyone to compare Australia's model to Pakistan's on-ground realities.

Also, if reducing teams is the best way to ensure quality cricket, then why does India have 38 teams in its Ranji Trophy? Are they stupid? Why don't they reduce it to 5 teams so that they unearth Bumrah's and Kohli's every year?

Population size does not automatically produce better elite players. Countries with small populations dominate many sports.
Australia (≈26–27M) is one of the most successful teams in cricket history. New Zealand (≈5M) consistently competes at the top level. What matters is high-quality pathways, coaching, and competition structure, not raw population numbers. Pakistan having ~240M people doesn’t automatically mean it should have more top-level teams.

Fewer Teams will Increase Competition Quality. The argument for fewer teams is about raising the standard of domestic cricket. When talent is spread across too many teams, the overall standard drops. Stronger domestic leagues concentrate the best players so matches are more intense and competitive, accelerating player development. This is why systems like Australia’s Sheffield Shield focus on quality over quantity.

Using India’s domestic structure as an example is misleading. The Ranji Trophy exists primarily as a state-representation tournament, not purely a talent-concentration system. But India also concentrates elite talent through other structures:
Indian Premier League, Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup. So the actual elite competition pool is much smaller than the 38 Ranji teams suggest.

Australia also invests considerably more finances and funding into developing its cricket structure regardless of how many sports it plays. Pakistan is literally only good at one sport and its not even utilising its talent pool properly because it is diluting its domestic structure with substandard and mediocre players.

 

[GudduBadmash]

People are also forgetting that there was 2nd 11 team for each team. Now you see 40 year old uncles playing. This is not going to help anyone. There are like a million tournament which are poorly organized with the schedule and squad being released a day before the tournament starts. The less said about the pitches the better.

Correct, players like Yasir Khan, Usman Tariq, Muhammad Shahzad, Arafat Minhas, Maaz Sadaqat have come through those 2nd teams

 

[RahulBose]

Not his fault - Field Marshall told him “no excuses, bring the trophy home”!!

View attachment 162741

Does he still have the trophy? Must be some super hard super villain armor of unashamedness

 

[khyberlion]

Correct, players like Yasir Khan, Usman Tariq, Muhammad Shahzad, Arafat Minhas, Maaz Sadaqat have come through those 2nd teams

I remember maaz having a ridiculous run for the the KPK 2nd 11 and forced his way into the 1st team.

 

[charlie007]

Using India’s domestic structure as an example is misleading. The Ranji Trophy exists primarily as a state-representation tournament, not purely a talent-concentration system. But India also concentrates elite talent through other structures:
Indian Premier League, Duleep Trophy, Irani Cup. So the actual elite competition pool is much smaller than the 38 Ranji teams suggest.

Partially true - Duleep Trophy (zonal tournament- East, West, North, South, Central) is about a 3-week tournament and Irani Trophy is a 5 day single match (Ranji Champions vs Rest of India).

Ranji Trophy is still the premier red ball tournament which provides that varied experience of playing different bowling across different surfaces across the country and remains the feeder to all other tournaments. The talent is identified in Ranji Trophy before the best ones go to or are eligible to play in the Duleep or Irani Trophy. Think about it, if not Ranji, where will the talent come from?
Sometimes it is sad or ironic that many talented batters or bowlers don’t cross this hurdle (domestic cricket) itself to be in the reckoning for the Indian Team because they were born in the era of other Indian greats - case in point: Rajinder Goel (Bedi’s time), Amol Mazumdar (Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman as competition), Rajat Bhatia (batting average nearly 50, bowling average under 28) among others. Each of these players would have easily played for top teams hypothetically speaking.

It is a sad thing that today’s red ball Indian team is somewhat (and wrongly) influenced by IPL or other white ball performances. Nothing beats the unforgiving grind of multiple Ranji seasons and players that come out are typically better prepared for higher level red ball cricket.

 

[Savak]

In hindsight i think restricting Pakistan's talent to six teams is counterproduct. I understand the debate over quality vs quantity. I think the best solution is to allow departments, city based teams to have their seperate 15-20 team tournaments first and the top 100-150 performers from the department tournaments, city based tournaments can be put in a seperate 5-6 champions tournament where the national team players are absolutely mandated by order from the PCB to participate. I would also recruit the best possible foreign coaches available from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka e.t.c. to coach these Champions Cup team.

This in my view is the best possible solution to cater to the quality vs quantity debate in Pakistan Cricket.

There should be a clear system and policy in place

U19 cricket - Department/City based teams - Champions Cup teams - Pakistan Shaheens/Emerging team/PSL - Pakistan National Team

PCB should make it mandatory that PSL participation requires a minimum of 30-40 first class games.

PCB stands to make $34 million per annum from the ICC and another $31 million per annum from the PSL Franchises. The broadcasting money from Local and International broadcasting deals, commercial sponsorship deals, in stadium rights, investment income is seperate and surely it means another $10-15 million. Surely can the PCB not keep a budget of $10 million for the above?

 

[GudduBadmash]

Partially true - Duleep Trophy (zonal tournament- East, West, North, South, Central) is about a 3-week tournament and Irani Trophy is a 5 day single match (Ranji Champions vs Rest of India).

Ranji Trophy is still the premier red ball tournament which provides that varied experience of playing different bowling across different surfaces across the country and remains the feeder to all other tournaments. The talent is identified in Ranji Trophy before the best ones go to or are eligible to play in the Duleep or Irani Trophy. Think about it, if not Ranji, where will the talent come from?
Sometimes it is sad or ironic that many talented batters or bowlers don’t cross this hurdle (domestic cricket) itself to be in the reckoning for the Indian Team because they were born in the era of other Indian greats - case in point: Rajinder Goel (Bedi’s time), Amol Mazumdar (Tendulkar, Dravid, Ganguly, Laxman as competition), Rajat Bhatia (batting average nearly 50, bowling average under 28) among others. Each of these players would have easily played for top teams hypothetically speaking.

It is a sad thing that today’s red ball Indian team is somewhat (and wrongly) influenced by IPL or other white ball performances. Nothing beats the unforgiving grind of multiple Ranji seasons and players that come out are typically better prepared for higher level red ball cricket.

Lets face it bro, alot of the players come from the IPL, I wont lie though, comparing the Indian Domestic setup to Pakistan itself is a joke considering how organised the Ranji Trophy is and the level of quality it continues to unearth. Your structure is layered, the players who make it to Ranji squads have also had to come through other very competitive levels. They usually grind through various layers to finally get to the top layer. It is not really this organised or structured in Pakistan

 

[GudduBadmash]

In hindsight i think restricting Pakistan's talent to six teams is counterproduct. I understand the debate over quality vs quantity. I think the best solution is to allow departments, city based teams to have their seperate 15-20 team tournaments first and the top 100-150 performers from the department tournaments, city based tournaments can be put in a seperate 5-6 champions tournament where the national team players are absolutely mandated by order from the PCB to participate. I would also recruit the best possible foreign coaches available from Australia, England, New Zealand, South Africa, West Indies, Sri Lanka e.t.c. to coach these Champions Cup team.

This in my view is the best possible solution to cater to the quality vs quantity debate in Pakistan Cricket.

There should be a clear system and policy in place

U19 cricket - Department/City based teams - Champions Cup teams - Pakistan Shaheens/Emerging team/PSL - Pakistan National Team

PCB should make it mandatory that PSL participation requires a minimum of 30-40 first class games.

PCB stands to make $34 million per annum from the ICC and another $31 million per annum from the PSL Franchises. The broadcasting money from Local and International broadcasting deals, commercial sponsorship deals, in stadium rights, investment income is seperate and surely it means another $10-15 million. Surely can the PCB not keep a budget of $10 million for the above?

I was just about to write this, a separate division

The Top Division which includes 6 teams and the lower tier which includes all the other departments, organisations. The top performing players in the lower tier earn the right to play at the very top. Pakistan cricket would flourish if this was to happen professionally and with honesty.

Then comes PSL, the top performing players earn their place in the PSL, we have seen emerging categories but there should be a domestic MVP category too that gurantees selection of the best performers in the top tier of domestic cricket

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

I was just about to write this, a separate division

The Top Division which includes 6 teams and the lower tier which includes all the other departments, organisations. The top performing players in the lower tier earn the right to play at the very top. Pakistan cricket would flourish if this was to happen professionally and with honesty.

Then comes PSL, the top performing players earn their place in the PSL, we have seen emerging categories but there should be a domestic MVP category too that gurantees selection of the best performers in the top tier of domestic cricket

This is a common misconception here with the number of teams. The restructuring did not reduce the domestic setup to six teams but to 12 teams. Each region had two teams, division 1 & division 2 and both were playing cricket at the same time. There was also not a drop in number of domestic players & even departments who were running the cricket team didn't fully discard their cricketing setups. There's also zero financial sense in PIA, Railway having cricket teams because they are already loss making ventures.

The argument that young people do not get into teams if teams are few does not hold weight. if there's enough nepotism in the system, you can have 200 teams and still it will not be possible for talented people to get in.

People forget that under Ramiz the best thing that got started was revival of club cricket. Club owners were not only invited but also there was a drive to register club cricket teams as well as provision of funds & cricketing equipment to current functional clubs.

If Pakistan needs to become a good cricketing team, they must invest in club cricket. Domestic cricket in Pak is only played during 4 months, the entire year the only thing that is running is club cricket. The premier domestic tournament Quaid e Azam trophy is a 6 week tournament or so, then we have an ODI tournament, a couple of T20s, & one pentangular tournament. The entire cricketing activity is still restricted to winter months & rest of the year cricketers don't have much to do.

The best system will always be a hybrid system. If departments want to have their cricketing teams, they should also be able to play a domestic tournament for a couple of months but PCB doesn't bear the brunt of major cost. The premier tournament remains a 12 team affair with two divisions while PSL can generate the cash that is required to run domestic cricket. The major focus should be on club cricket that is active 12 months of the year and PCB should host proper tournaments where clubs get to play each other e.g. a club in Landikotal can actually play with a club from Gwadar. That is where the real talent is & that's the place where no one spends any effort or time.