Do you think that there will be any positive hope in the near future or we're going to finished as a major cricketing nation?
I want to know how you're seeing Pakistan cricket in the future? Is there any kind of solution you think which makes us a better cricketing nation?
Before we can address the question of whether cricket in Pakistan can be salvaged, we first need to understand why we have regressed so much in spite of the fact that with 200m people, we have the second largest talent pool (after India) by some distance, have 50+ years of cricket heritage and it is by far the most loved and followed sport in the country.
We have all the resources required to become a powerhouse in cricket. However, we have been held back by three main factors, all of which are interlinked:
(1) Our rotten cricket culture
(2) The state of domestic cricket
(3) The status and the reputation of the country itself
Our cricket culture is rotten because in the last three decades or so, cricket has left the urban cities and gone to the villages. Children in urban cities still play the game, but most of them are not prepared to make it a career because it is very risky. If you are not good enough to make it the national team, you are better off focusing on your education.
As a result, most of our players are coming from weak backgrounds and lack social awareness. They don't know how to handle their newly found fame and act like fools. They lack intelligence and perception because they have received very little formal education, they are poor communicators and are easily intimidated and star-struck by the big teams and the big players. Simply put, we are not producing stars anymore with big, charismatic personalities.
Personality plays a big role in your development as a player. It can make you better than you are and it rubs on your teammates as well as the opposition. The fact that a character like Sarfraz is the captain of the team today shows how much our cricket culture has regressed: average cricketer, zero personality, zero charisma, poor communication skills and hardly someone who is going to make people pay to watch him.
On the other side of the border, you have Kohli. Even if we ignore his status as a legendary batsman, he is one of the biggest personalities and superstar in the history of the game, and his mere presence on the field as well as his articulate manner of speaking makes him steal the spotlight.
There was a time when Pakistan was led by Imran Khan and India was led by Kapil, or Pakistan was led by Wasim and India was led by Azharuddin. These captains were as popular in India as they were in Pakistan. Today, apart from some of his family that lives in India, I highly doubt that your average Indian cricket fan is even aware of who Sarfraz is.
Secondly, the often discussed state of our domestic cricket. When you look at the condition of the pitches and the condition of the grounds, it is easy to understand why we have regressed so much as a cricket nation. On top of that, you have tried and tested failures in international cricket dominating the charts in domestic cricket, which is a clear indication that top level talent is not coming through, and that is why nearly every hyped youngster flops in international cricket.
Our First-Class matches end in three days and the batsmen simply do not develop the temperament and the patience to bat for long hours. How many young batsmen in our F/C Cricket have scored double and triple-hundreds? Our pitches are tailor-made for dibbly-dobbly trundlers where the ball bounce bounce above the knee on those sticky pitches, which is why these batsmen look out of their depth against genuine pace bowling on lively pitches.
When it comes to the status and reputation of the country, it has had a big impact on the state of domestic cricket. If you look at India, foreign coaches spend a lot of time working with the young Indian players even outside the IPL. In Pakistan, we cannot convince foreign coaches to work with our domestic players unless we give them presidential security for three days.
As a result, our players simply do not have the exposure that the Indian players enjoy. Also, the security problems that the country is facing has obviously dented the PCB as well. Playing matches in the UAE is a big financial burden, and a big chunk of that money could have been better used elsewhere. The opportunity cost of not playing at home is considerably huge even if we ignore the on-field implications, which are often used to excuse the poor performances of the team.
Pakistan cricket can restore its dignity yes, but I am personally not hopeful because I don't see the status of the country changing for at least the next 20-30 years. Unless and until all teams are willing to play in Pakistan and we do not have to rub our nose in the dirt to convince people to come to the country, our cricket will continue to suffer.
Nothing is constant so all of that might change at some point in the distant future, but by that time, we might be too far behind to catch up.
