RedwoodOriginal
Senior T20I Player
- Joined
- Jul 8, 2018
- Runs
- 18,721
- Post of the Week
- 4
Recent management changes in the PCB have finally ignited the debate regarding Pakistan Cricket that everyone should've been having a long time ago.
Whether people agree with me or not, the recent administration of chairman Ehsan Mani and his newly installed MD Wasim Khan (working on the direction of the PM) have seemed to start taking the necessary steps to reform and restructure Pakistan's archaic and obsolete domestic-structure that in many regards is causing more damage to the nation's domestic cricket then benefiting it.
The challenges at present are many; the horrendous pitches that discourage our culture of producing great fast-bowlers and spinners. Pitches that actually end up causing damage our batsmen's techniques. A system where fitness, fielding and most technical aspects of the game are paid little heed to. We have a mafia of corporate and non-corporate administrators who use it as a position of influence and give little attention to allowing a balanced competition take place, with their nepotism, their lack of focus towards player development. Usually just poaching players from associations. The lower grass-roots level also has multiple problems mostly structural. And then ofcourse there's our test team that often comes off as a deer caught in the headlights on foreign tours.
PCB's attempts to counter these problems begin with a 6 team structure which would obviously mean a much more high-competition of cricket but in a country of nearly 220 million people 6 teams are too few especially with the concentration of the talent pool in a few centers.
Then of course there's the predicament of departments that for all their flaws have always been major stakeholders in Pakistan cricket. Casting them aside can't come without financial support to the associations from the federal government, ideally in the from sustained budget allocated funds. Then ofcourse there's the prospect of departments pulling out from other sports like hockey, basketball that practically live on their support. This is a very real possibility.
Wasim Khan to his credit seems to have interesting ideas like having regional coaches communicate with the chief selector regarding opposition players that caught their eye. He intends on improving pitches and according to him, PCB also re-structure both the grass-roots level (U-13,U-16,U-19) and club cricket. Domestic cricket matches perhaps for the first time will also have a greater dimension with schedules said to be organized to complement Pakistan's international series, serving as a form of preparation. Good performances in Domestic T20 Cup matches will allow players a chance to play in the PSL. And ofcourse there's the idea of just preparing better whether its by sending our batsmen to the WACA a month in-advance or getting our top order batsmen to play county cricket at subsidized prices to the counties.
Ultimately though, the biggest test for the PCB will not be implementing these changes but rather how long they can sustain these changes. It won't be easy not will it happen overnight but the positive trend in my eyes is that for the first time there's atleast an attempt to change the direction of Pakistan cricket. Apologists of the current system (especially ex-players) will be quick to point to you that the same system has churned our Wasim Akrams and Javed Miandads. But they constantly fail to realize that these players succeeded despite the system, rather than because of it. And why is it that countries like India, Australia, South Africa consistently churn out great and fully formed players while Pakistan produces them after a sustained period of time.
I realize this post is more emotional than rational but that is just how greatly I feel our cricket needs to change. We are lagging behind in the most basic areas and I am personally tired of our team being associated with patronizing (but true) tags like 'unpredictable' and 'mercurial'. One can only hope PCB is successful in changing things for the better.
Whether people agree with me or not, the recent administration of chairman Ehsan Mani and his newly installed MD Wasim Khan (working on the direction of the PM) have seemed to start taking the necessary steps to reform and restructure Pakistan's archaic and obsolete domestic-structure that in many regards is causing more damage to the nation's domestic cricket then benefiting it.
The challenges at present are many; the horrendous pitches that discourage our culture of producing great fast-bowlers and spinners. Pitches that actually end up causing damage our batsmen's techniques. A system where fitness, fielding and most technical aspects of the game are paid little heed to. We have a mafia of corporate and non-corporate administrators who use it as a position of influence and give little attention to allowing a balanced competition take place, with their nepotism, their lack of focus towards player development. Usually just poaching players from associations. The lower grass-roots level also has multiple problems mostly structural. And then ofcourse there's our test team that often comes off as a deer caught in the headlights on foreign tours.
PCB's attempts to counter these problems begin with a 6 team structure which would obviously mean a much more high-competition of cricket but in a country of nearly 220 million people 6 teams are too few especially with the concentration of the talent pool in a few centers.
Then of course there's the predicament of departments that for all their flaws have always been major stakeholders in Pakistan cricket. Casting them aside can't come without financial support to the associations from the federal government, ideally in the from sustained budget allocated funds. Then ofcourse there's the prospect of departments pulling out from other sports like hockey, basketball that practically live on their support. This is a very real possibility.
Wasim Khan to his credit seems to have interesting ideas like having regional coaches communicate with the chief selector regarding opposition players that caught their eye. He intends on improving pitches and according to him, PCB also re-structure both the grass-roots level (U-13,U-16,U-19) and club cricket. Domestic cricket matches perhaps for the first time will also have a greater dimension with schedules said to be organized to complement Pakistan's international series, serving as a form of preparation. Good performances in Domestic T20 Cup matches will allow players a chance to play in the PSL. And ofcourse there's the idea of just preparing better whether its by sending our batsmen to the WACA a month in-advance or getting our top order batsmen to play county cricket at subsidized prices to the counties.
Ultimately though, the biggest test for the PCB will not be implementing these changes but rather how long they can sustain these changes. It won't be easy not will it happen overnight but the positive trend in my eyes is that for the first time there's atleast an attempt to change the direction of Pakistan cricket. Apologists of the current system (especially ex-players) will be quick to point to you that the same system has churned our Wasim Akrams and Javed Miandads. But they constantly fail to realize that these players succeeded despite the system, rather than because of it. And why is it that countries like India, Australia, South Africa consistently churn out great and fully formed players while Pakistan produces them after a sustained period of time.
I realize this post is more emotional than rational but that is just how greatly I feel our cricket needs to change. We are lagging behind in the most basic areas and I am personally tired of our team being associated with patronizing (but true) tags like 'unpredictable' and 'mercurial'. One can only hope PCB is successful in changing things for the better.
