Is Pakistan cricket down in the dumps
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Just before he took the Pakistan team to Sri Lanka and then England this summer, I had a detailed chat with Shahid Afridi in Karachi.
It was June and though the 2011 World Cup was still almost nine months away, Pakistan's cricket captain was more interested in talking about the quadrennial spectacle than anything else. He almost sounded obsessed with the idea of leading Pakistan to the World Cup crown almost 20 years after the great Imran Khan achieved that feat in Australia.
A few months and a series of controversies later, Afridi is still optimistic of Pakistan's World Cup chances though the captain doesn't sound as convincing as he did in June.
It's hardly surprising.
Pakistan cricket is going through its worst phase at the moment. Many of the country's leading cricketers are suspected of having links with match-fixers. Corruption allegations have tainted Pakistan's cricket team to the extent that several former cricketing great Ian Botham is calling for a ban. Such is the intensity of the charges against Pakistan that there are even fears that the 1992 world champions might not even take part in next year's World Cup.
Three of Pakistan's players — Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer — remain suspended as investigations continue into allegations of corruption against them. Asif and Aamer have been accused of bowling deliberate no balls on the orders of match fixers. The International Cricket Council (ICC) is also investigating claims that Pakistani players were involved in 'spot fixing' during their third One-day International against England at The Oval earlier this month.
As if all of it wasn't enough, Pakistan's cricket chiefs have engaged themselves in a bitter row with England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) following Ijaz Butt's insane comments about the England team throwing The Oval one-dayer for huge sums of money. ECB has demanded a public apology from the PCB chief but sources in the Board say that Butt is in no mood to say sorry.
There aren't many positive reports emitting from the Pakistan team either. The squad is back home after completing its acrimonious tour of England where Pakistan lost the four-Test series 1-3, Twenty20 International series 0-2 and finally the One-day International series 2-3.
During the best part of the tour, even if you put aside the so-called 'spot fixing scandal', there weren't many happy stories as far as the team is concerned.
Afridi, who came out of Test exile to lead Pakistan in their first Test against Australia at Lord's last July, made a shocking announcement that he was quitting Test cricket again after playing just one match.
Later, when Pakistan were hit by a bombshell that came in the form of an expose by News Of The World, sources close to Afridi claimed that the all-rounder was forced to retire because he wasn't happy with the fact that some of his players were allowed by the team management to openly mix with several 'suspicious' characters. One of those characters was Mazhar Majeed, the British business at the center of the 'spot fixing' scandal.
Pakistan went on to win their next Test against Australia - their first Test win against the Aussies in 15 years. The triumph was hailed as a turning point for Pakistan cricket as many thought that under Salman Butt, the team was destined for more glory.
Sadly, things began to fall apart after that series-leveling triumph at Headingley.
Pakistan were crushed by England in the first two Tests at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston where the visitors batted like novices and gave more proof that they were easily the worst fielding side among all Test nations.
Pakistan dropped the controversial Kamran Akmal for his awful catching and poor batting after Trent Bridge and instead fielded debutant Zulqarnain Haider as their wicket-keeper at Edgbaston. The lanky stumper made a fighting 88 in the second innings but was sent back home ahead of the third Test at The Oval because of a finger injury.
Well-placed sources in the team had revealed that the injury wasn't a serious one and that Zulqarnain could have played at The Oval. But there was no such luck for the youngster and Kamran Akmal was brought back to keep the wickets for Pakistan.
Conflicting reports continuously came out of the Pakistan camp during the tour regarding relations between the players and their coaches.
While sources claimed that the team officials and some of the senior players were not even on talking terms, Afridi - Pakistan's one-day captain - kept insisting that he was at the helm of a completely 'united' team.
The players and team coaches, according to the sources, also developed bitter differences on the issue of fielding practice during the tour.
While Ijaz Ahmed, the man who was entrusted with the responsibility of bringing about an improvement in the team's fielding standards insisted on marathon training sessions, many of the players believed such sessions did more harm than good.
"Sometime we are so stiff after those long sessions just before a game that the idea of fielding in the match used to make us really uneasy," one of the team members, who requested anonymity, told The News on Sunday.
Among the senior players there was this suspicion that Ijaz and company were against their presence in the team. The players feared that the extensive fielding sessions were aimed at ruining their fitness so that they could be kicked out of the team.
"Some of us (senior players) were convinced that the coaches want to get rid of us so that they can have their favorites in the team. It wasn't a good feeling at all," said another Pakistan player.
It wasn't just the players and officials who were not really getting along during the tour. The players, too, had their differences.
"The players began to suspect each other after the (spot fixing) scandal," said a source. "If there was any unity in the team, it was pretty much gone after those three players were named in the scandal," he added.
In nutshell, Pakistan cricket is down in the dumps at the moment.
So, is there any light at the end of the tunnel? Sadly, with a man like Ijaz Butt at the helm of our cricket affairs, one can't be optimistic about anything.
What Pakistan cricket needs is a Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chief with a vision, somebody who can build bridges with the rest of cricketing world. Someone who can form a competent team, which can first carry out damage control and then rebuild Pakistan's credibility as a respected Test-playing country. It won't be easy but it's not impossible.
For the moment, as long as Ijaz Butt is in charge, such a turn-around is quite unlikely. You can't expect a man, with a sizeable contribution to the current mess, to suddenly change overnight and carry out this mammoth task. He has to go otherwise Pakistan cricket will become a lost cause.
posted @ 11:56 AM,
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