What went wrong with Pakistan cricket?

[Aami]

They've had the odd bright spark since 2010, but I think last 4 years have been particularly brutal.

Ever since 2022 T20 WC final, its been downhill. We've not even looked like getting into top 4, not remotely, and you are judged against the best at top level.

Solutions? ... well, lets ask the guy who started this thread.

 

[RyanRyan10]

Pakistan against India and SENA teams in ICC tournaments since 2023:

P17, W1, L16

One win being the DLS win against New Zealand in Bangalore, 2023.

I think it includes women's cricket too?

 

[cricketjoshila]

Pakistan doesn’t accept it haa a problem, if u don’t accept you will never work to solve the problem.

If you continue to believe babar and ssa are as good as Kohli and bumrah respectively you will never achieve the same level of of excellence.

In early 2000s when speed guns came and showed how Indian bowlers were much slower compared to others, the media took the matter seriously and BCCI was repeatedly criticised for not promoting fast bowlers and concentrating on swing or variation bowlers. Bcci changed the entire process and down to club levels, coaches were warned not to force bowlers to reduce pace to get swing


Imported soil was used mKe pitches


Many good academies started using speed guns regularly and if a bowler was clocking 140 plus he was highlighted to the local association. Who were intencivized by bcci to promote such talent.

That’s why a bumrah reached ipl and same with Umran Malik

If you think u r the best you will never improve

 

[RedwoodOriginal]

I think it includes women's cricket too?

No this is just men's

 

[Rana]

Legends

 

[Kianig89]

Pakistan cricket is going Pakistan Hockey route , absolutely pathetic , if ICC starts qualifiers for WC barring the hosts , and there is more of a chance Pakistan may miss out , specially if qualifiers are played on home and away bases.

 

[YousafTheBeast]

India picks players who have played years of cricket at the domestic level before giving them a chance to represent india

Meanwhile, in Pakistan they pick players after a couple of domestic games, hope they do well, and then throw them away after a couple of failures.

It’s like throwing a new born baby into the Pacific Ocean and expecting him to swim like Michael Phelps.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

One day 10 years from now, people will realize that Pak cricket was purely built on Imran Khans shoulders and his attitude to never give up.

The little life our cricket had post his retirement was the impact of the slipstream of his monstrous legacy. The moment it ran out, Pak cricket became as ordinary as intended & reverted to typecast of being a bully; surrender to strong teams, record galore against weaker ones. No charisma, no vision, no fight, just average plain mediocrity.

Imran took it to another level, but cricket was pretty solid ( relative to other teams) before his arrival, too. There was a massive decline post his retirement.

 

[DeadlyVenom]

I think firstly we need to acknowledge that we are not a cricketing powerhouse, nor an economic powerhouse that can sustain a massively bloated and corrupt cricketing infrastructure.

Start to cut out some of the fat and you will have more money to spend on the cricket infrastructure in the country that matters and build quality pitches, set up A tours etc.

Having multiple first class tournaments, random champions cups, large staff required to sustain this, is a burden on the cricket that actually matters and actually creates value.

Make it flipping consistent too. In the last 4 years QEA trophy has had 6,8,18,10 teams. Can we really say that the one with 18 teams was a high standard compared to preceeding and succeeding tournament?

 

[jnaveen1980]

wow a thread from 16 years or more !! My life was completely different then These kind of threads are good reference points.

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

Imran took it to another level, but cricket was pretty solid ( relative to other teams) before his arrival, too. There was a massive decline post his retirement.

Not really. Pak cricket was in absolute doldrums for almost a decade before Mushtaq on the back of IK got it back & we started winning again and specially started challenging Eng/Aus/WI/India on their home turfs.

We won 3 tests in 12 years and were a team without fast bowlers. Tidy spinners and stoic batters and that's about it.

The meteoric rise of IK starts from 76' Sydney test while his contributions had started beforehand & he was already a threat. On the back of his excellence, Pak tied a series in Australia, beat England & India in their homes and gave WI a run for their money throughout their peak. 87' was the peak of Pak cricket as we beat both India and England in their homes for the first time but all of it was soured because of popularity of ODI cricket and Pak lost the semi in Lahore.

Also under him we were ahead of the curve in terms of cricketing innovation. Longer batting lineup, reverse swing, reviving the art of leg spin, & emphasis on fast bowling instead of medium pacers are all things that were introduced/perfected by IK.

One can always be critical of his politics but his cricketing service is absolutely undeniable. We never had a fast bowler before him & that is an achievement in itself. Sarfraz and Fazal were good medium pacers who were in the 115 - 125 kph range and succeeded in specific conditions (Sarfu - reverse swing. Fazal - matting pitches & seam bowling conditions plus his leg cutter was/is legendary). His impact wasn't just limited to Pak, he also inspired players across the border and players like Kapil (who is extremely underrated by Pakistanis) became such fierce competitors.

Post IKs retirement, while we continue to win here and there, we have absolutely lost the ability to compete against better teams in their conditions in test cricket.

Last series won in England 96'.
Last match won in Australia 96'.
Last match won in RSA 2006'.
Last series won in NZ 2011.

Haven't even won an ODI in NZ in years as well to boot. The ICC tournaments are now just nightmares while until 99' we were always one of the contenders & considered a favorite.

 

[shah9425]

They've had the odd bright spark since 2010, but I think last 4 years have been particularly brutal.

Ever since 2022 T20 WC final, its been downhill. We've not even looked like getting into top 4, not remotely, and you are judged against the best at top level.

Solutions? ... well, lets ask the guy who started this thread.

Decline was there after 2003 but still some fix and tweaks kept us alive
Especially after 2007 there was spark but after 2022 it has nosedived to such a low level that we now fear to lose to associates

 

[jnaveen1980]

Pakistan is traditionally a bowling team. With new batting techniques coming around bowlers are getting hit more and more. Back then attitude towards batting was different. So Pakistan bowlers managed to enjoy that phase even with average batting unit. Now suddenly batting level has few notches above. Pakistan's bowling effectively neutered. So they are trying to catch up in ther traditionally weak department which was batting. Very steep learning curve for them. India is traditionally a batting team. So they managed to catch up far easily.

T20 is not a good format for them at this point.

 

[nish_mate]

what went wrong with PCT?
2 things

Mamoon and Bhaijaan started supporting it

 

[Kianig89]

Fast bowlers particularly in Test cricket, Pakistan has no fast bowlers for red ball cricket forget about Backup.

The last fast bowlers from Pakistan to play regular Test cricket were Umer Gul, Wahab Riaz & Junaid Khan.

They all debut a decade and half ago. Gul even mid 2000s
=================

A very big reason for our decline , we cannot take 20 wickets, our bowlers no more possess the aura to shake batsmen in any format

 

[Aami]

Fast bowlers particularly in Test cricket, Pakistan has no fast bowlers for red ball cricket forget about Backup.

The last fast bowlers from Pakistan to play regular Test cricket were Umer Gul, Wahab Riaz & Junaid Khan.

They all debut a decade and half ago. Gul even mid 2000s
=================

A very big reason for our decline , we cannot take 20 wickets, our bowlers no more possess the aura to shake batsmen in any format

True, no fast bowler has taken 200 wkts since Waqar more than 20 years ago...

 

[Kianig89]

True, no fast bowler has taken 200 wkts since Waqar more than 20 years ago...

But thanks to aaqib jved we are on path to greatness

 

[Aami]

I think Aaqib Javed is just making use of the resources he's inherited when it comes to test cricket, therefore, reliance on slow bowlers (may be a bit too much).

Overall, Pak is still steeped in nepotism, corruption, rotten first class system, lack of professional coaching set up, player development, well you name it. And, people like Aaqib are hardly the innovators or thinking out of the box typed, merely the ones who keep the status quo.

I think, might be wrong here, this is the first time Pakistan has not reached, at least, the semi final stage of 4 consecutive ICC world events; goes to show you where we are, bottomless pit.

But, looking on the bright side; the only way is up!