Wasim Akram didn’t mince his words and called for a radical overhaul. Mohammad Hafeez questioned the integrity of the selection process. Waqar Younis slammed Pakistan’s batting. The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi reportedly hinted at a “major surgery”.
If Pakistan’s loss to their T20 World Cup opener against the United State was a one-off, then losing to India on Sunday was a bottle job. It has pushed Babar Azam’s team towards early elimination. The question is, what next? What does the future hold for Pakistan cricket?
“Someone has to bell the cat,” said Akram on his #WazzWithU social media video post. “Enough is enough. Pick a new team. Pick at least six-seven new players. They are losing now. If they lose with the new boys, then back them so that they can play as a team and put up a fight,” the legendary former fast bowler added.
Easier said than done, for according to some coaches who are connected to grassroots cricket in Pakistan, there’s a dearth of talent. “Yes, I agree that we need to inject young blood. But do we have talent, with the mental resolve to go and perform at the highest level,” Asif Bajwa, Mohammad Amir’s boyhood coach, asked, as he spoke to RevSportz.
“Take the example of Mohammad Haris. He was given so many opportunities. Did he perform and cement his place in the Pakistan team? Focus is an issue with a lot of young players here,” Bajwa elaborated.
Akram pointed at a rift in the team, suggesting that captain Babar Azam and his predecessor in the white-ball side, Shaheen Shah Afridi, are not on talking terms. “You are playing for your national team. Show some pride,” he said.
That Pakistan had to bring back Imad Wasim and Amir before the T20 World Cup showed the paucity of young talent. Both had hung up their international boots. “It showed the failure of the system, that it couldn’t produce players,” observed Bajwa.
Hafeez, on the other hand, stirred a controversy regarding the selection of Amir and Wasim. “Six months ago, when these two cricketers were asked by the PCB if they would play for Pakistan, they refused because they wanted to participate in T20 leagues,” the former Pakistan team director told a local TV channel, as quoted by The Express Tribune. “Now that there is no league in the June window, the two players are participating in the T20 World Cup and treating it as just another league.”
He also aimed a thinly-veiled dig at the selection process — citing the example of a young player, Kamran Ghulam — that this is not being done on merit. Ghulam, said Hafeez, chose to leave Pakistan to play league cricket elsewhere, “because he felt that scoring hundreds in domestic cricket wouldn’t be rewarding in the long run and he would never get an international cap based on his performances”.
After Pakistan’s loss to India, several Pakistani media outlets reported how PCB chair Naqvi took exception to the defeat. “It seemed initially that a minor surgery would be enough, but following the extremely poor performance against India, it is clear that a major surgery is necessary,” he was quoted as saying. Naqvi promised to sit down and look at everything after the end of the T20 World Cup.
Pakistan have two group league matches remaining, against Canada on Tuesday and followed by Ireland on Sunday. They have to win both by big margins and look at the other results. If the US beat Ireland on Friday, Pakistan’s World Cup would be over.
Winning the remaining two matches is Pakistan’s short-term goal. Long-term, they will have to prepare a team for the Champions Trophy next year that can challenge the best on home soil. Pakistan’s performance of late in white-ball cricket has been poor. They failed to reach the knockouts in the World Cup (50-over format) last year. Drawing a home T20I series against a second-string New Zealand side was an underwhelming performance. To make matters worse, they lost a game in Ireland and went down 2-0 in the T20I series in England. At the T20 World Cup, they are yet to open their account.
International cricket needs a robust Pakistan and the PCB needs to get its act together. The entire system calls for stability. And for once, as Akram said, non-performing cricketers must pay the price rather than the coaching staff.
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