Savak
Test Captain
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2006
- Runs
- 48,464
- Post of the Week
- 3
Imagine being an international sportsman, but never actually playing at home. For the past decade, this has been every Pakistani Test player’s fate.
Saeed Ajmal took 178 Test wickets: not one was at home – a record. Azhar Ali has scored 5,135 runs: not one was at home – another record. Sarfraz Ahmed is the captain, yet has never played a Test in his homeland.
In March 2009, Sri Lanka were en route to the third day of a Test match in Lahore, plotting how to convert their first innings 606 into a victory. Then, the team bus was ambushed and five security men were killed. Gunfire was aimed at the bus, injuring seven players. They had to be flown out of the ground by helicopter.
The years since have been an age of isolation: no Test cricket has been played in the country, and only a few brief limited-overs series. “Pakistan cricket has suffered in the last nine years because of not playing cricket in Pakistan,” Sarfraz says. A sports team central to the fabric of society have become a team in exile, using the United Arab Emirates as their home.
This has not merely deprived the team of home advantage, but also imposed a burden on the players. No cricket in Pakistan has meant an existence in hotel rooms and being cut off from their families and friends.
“It is getting too much for us mentally,” said Mohammad Hafeez five years ago. “Staying away from the family [for] almost 11 months a year is a big task.” When the players are able to return, they encounter a game that is defiant but also imperilled.
“The last 10 years have been a dark period in our cricket history,” says Najam Sethi, the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The wonders of the intoxicating Champions Trophy victory last summer should not create the illusion that the sport has been impervious to nine years without hosting a Test.
The lack of international cricket at home has deprived children of seeing cricketers up close, and so wanting to play themselves. Sales of cricket equipment have fallen 70 per cent in the cricket hotbed of Sialkot.
When Sethi took over in 2013, the chief selector told him that the talent pool had dried up. “Training, game development, money, motivation – all that has been lacking,” Sethi says.
The financial cost of playing without a home has been crippling. Every time Pakistan play in the UAE, they must pay $50,000 per day to rent the stadiums; when they play at home they just need to pay for electricity.
In the UAE, they must also pay $200-250 per person a night for hotels – both for Pakistan themselves and the touring team; at home, these costs are half as much.
When the Pakistan Super League takes place, the PCB must pay for six teams to stay in the UAE for a month. And matches there, even the PSL, generate little cash. This season, the PCB made more ticket revenue from three PSL games in Pakistan than 31 in the UAE. In total, Pakistan have lost about $100 million from not playing at home in the past decade, says Sethi.
This has been accompanied by a second blow. Not hosting India at all – even in the UAE – has cost Pakistan another $100 million, as broadcasting and other contracts are index-linked to playing them. Add it all up, and the total cost of terrorism and security fears for Pakistan cricket has been $200 million.
“It’s a miracle we are still able to put together a good team but you could imagine what we’ve been through,” Sethi says. Cricket remains vibrant because of “the enthusiasm of Pakistanis. This is a country of 200 million people – and 100 million are passionate about the game”.
A lack of cash means that no new academies have been established in the last five years, Sethi explains.
As foreign coaches have not wanted to come, young players have been denied their expertise. They have also not been able to practise on wickets with a different character: Sethi has struggled to get foreign groundsmen to the country to prepare wickets designed to favour seam bowling.
“Forget about players coming to play – even coaches and trainers and curators were not ready to come and help us,” Sethi says.
The women’s team have also suffered, missing out on cash to fund better contracts and training support.
Now there is new hope. The security situation is improving. The Pakistan Super League, formed in 2016, “opened the door to Pakistan,” Sethi believes.
The final was played in Lahore in 2017; this year, the last three games were played in Pakistan, and more overseas players were willing to play.
International cricket is returning too. Last September, the ICC World XI toured for three T20s and the West Indies played three T20s in April.
It is likely that Ireland will go to Pakistan for a full tour within two years, providing the security situation holds. It would be a seminal moment. “We’d love to have them,” Sethi says.
Few countries, across any sport, could have coped better with a decade in exile: a testament to cricket’s hold over the country and the nation’s deep reservoirs of talent.
Yet this period has tested and shaken Pakistan cricket like never before. More than anything, Pakistan cricket just wants to return home.
Link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket...desperate-enjoy-comforts-home-10-years-exile/
Comments: The PCB needs to grow a pair and start demanding that teams who refuse to tour Pakistan to fund the costs of playing in the UAE if they insist on playing in the UAE vs Pakistan.
Saeed Ajmal took 178 Test wickets: not one was at home – a record. Azhar Ali has scored 5,135 runs: not one was at home – another record. Sarfraz Ahmed is the captain, yet has never played a Test in his homeland.
In March 2009, Sri Lanka were en route to the third day of a Test match in Lahore, plotting how to convert their first innings 606 into a victory. Then, the team bus was ambushed and five security men were killed. Gunfire was aimed at the bus, injuring seven players. They had to be flown out of the ground by helicopter.
The years since have been an age of isolation: no Test cricket has been played in the country, and only a few brief limited-overs series. “Pakistan cricket has suffered in the last nine years because of not playing cricket in Pakistan,” Sarfraz says. A sports team central to the fabric of society have become a team in exile, using the United Arab Emirates as their home.
This has not merely deprived the team of home advantage, but also imposed a burden on the players. No cricket in Pakistan has meant an existence in hotel rooms and being cut off from their families and friends.
“It is getting too much for us mentally,” said Mohammad Hafeez five years ago. “Staying away from the family [for] almost 11 months a year is a big task.” When the players are able to return, they encounter a game that is defiant but also imperilled.
“The last 10 years have been a dark period in our cricket history,” says Najam Sethi, the chief executive of the Pakistan Cricket Board.
The wonders of the intoxicating Champions Trophy victory last summer should not create the illusion that the sport has been impervious to nine years without hosting a Test.
The lack of international cricket at home has deprived children of seeing cricketers up close, and so wanting to play themselves. Sales of cricket equipment have fallen 70 per cent in the cricket hotbed of Sialkot.
When Sethi took over in 2013, the chief selector told him that the talent pool had dried up. “Training, game development, money, motivation – all that has been lacking,” Sethi says.
The financial cost of playing without a home has been crippling. Every time Pakistan play in the UAE, they must pay $50,000 per day to rent the stadiums; when they play at home they just need to pay for electricity.
In the UAE, they must also pay $200-250 per person a night for hotels – both for Pakistan themselves and the touring team; at home, these costs are half as much.
When the Pakistan Super League takes place, the PCB must pay for six teams to stay in the UAE for a month. And matches there, even the PSL, generate little cash. This season, the PCB made more ticket revenue from three PSL games in Pakistan than 31 in the UAE. In total, Pakistan have lost about $100 million from not playing at home in the past decade, says Sethi.
This has been accompanied by a second blow. Not hosting India at all – even in the UAE – has cost Pakistan another $100 million, as broadcasting and other contracts are index-linked to playing them. Add it all up, and the total cost of terrorism and security fears for Pakistan cricket has been $200 million.
“It’s a miracle we are still able to put together a good team but you could imagine what we’ve been through,” Sethi says. Cricket remains vibrant because of “the enthusiasm of Pakistanis. This is a country of 200 million people – and 100 million are passionate about the game”.
A lack of cash means that no new academies have been established in the last five years, Sethi explains.
As foreign coaches have not wanted to come, young players have been denied their expertise. They have also not been able to practise on wickets with a different character: Sethi has struggled to get foreign groundsmen to the country to prepare wickets designed to favour seam bowling.
“Forget about players coming to play – even coaches and trainers and curators were not ready to come and help us,” Sethi says.
The women’s team have also suffered, missing out on cash to fund better contracts and training support.
Now there is new hope. The security situation is improving. The Pakistan Super League, formed in 2016, “opened the door to Pakistan,” Sethi believes.
The final was played in Lahore in 2017; this year, the last three games were played in Pakistan, and more overseas players were willing to play.
International cricket is returning too. Last September, the ICC World XI toured for three T20s and the West Indies played three T20s in April.
It is likely that Ireland will go to Pakistan for a full tour within two years, providing the security situation holds. It would be a seminal moment. “We’d love to have them,” Sethi says.
Few countries, across any sport, could have coped better with a decade in exile: a testament to cricket’s hold over the country and the nation’s deep reservoirs of talent.
Yet this period has tested and shaken Pakistan cricket like never before. More than anything, Pakistan cricket just wants to return home.
Link: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket...desperate-enjoy-comforts-home-10-years-exile/
Comments: The PCB needs to grow a pair and start demanding that teams who refuse to tour Pakistan to fund the costs of playing in the UAE if they insist on playing in the UAE vs Pakistan.
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