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Pakistan Cricket : Chaos and Unprofessionalism Personified
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Special Feature by Venkat
For one, who has been tracking the aftermath of the Samsung Cup series between India and Pakistan has been as interesting as the series itself, its more and more chaos and confusion in the PCB that I notice and not disappointment or dejection! The Pakistan Cricket Board, which boasts itself of a professional setup, is unfortunately filled with some truly unprofessional people ! A coach in Javed Miandad, who believes in using 19th century cricketing tactics in a more modern game, Rameez Raja, who is suffering from a multiple professional personality disorder (apparently the CEO of Pakistan Cricket Board) or a Ten Sports gib, Dr. Tauseef Razzaq, the team doctor who I doubt has an MBBS degree, Haroon Rashid, the team manager who is not willing to forego his position a la an Indian politician, such is the unfortunate state of Pakistan Cricket today.
Taking things for granted has been the way the Pakistani cricketers have been bred and I don't blame them for that ! Its the administration (mainly under Lt.Gen Tauqir Zia) that has injected this virus into their blood, a virus which could lead to disastrous circumstances, as it has already done with as many as 5 Pakistani players supposedly injured in the current loss to India in the Test matches ! And a typical answer to kill this virus would be speculations, long term changes, blame game and the worse of them all - scapegoatism! This is where the PCB lacks in a commanding administration, although their chairman is a professional administrator !
On the Shoaib issue, one must not forget the words of Shaharyar Khan in a BBC programme that "Shoaib was not injured", which according to me could be argued ! It was not Shoaib the cricketer that was injured, but Shoaib the egoist who was injured, the Shoaib who portrayed himself in a larger than life image and followed many Pakistanis in the art of taking things for granted. Yes, on the contrary the only way I can think of defending Shoaib Akhtar is by stating that he was due for an "injury". For a guy who made his debut 7 years ago, a record of representing Pakistan 32 tests and 103 One Dayers is abysmal to say the least, which clearly indicates that he has not played a series in the regular playing XI, barring the one against Bangladesh ! (who
wouldn't wanna be fit against them eh?)
In the cricketing sense, the Pakistani skipper seems to be a sleep-walker on the field not showing any signs of wanting to win and considering win a secondary objective ! Their coach remains as over-passionate as ever, without passing a fraction of his passion to his players and especially Inzamam ul-Haq ! I think its time for someone to be groomed as the future Pakistan captain as persisting with someone who is laid back with a "Who Cares" attitude will lead to Pakistan's downfall ! And the bowlers must not ask for a "green top" without 10 hours of disciplined bowling in the nets - (which I guess is too much, else they sustain an "injury").
Over the years, Pakistan team management has seen a presence of some hypocrats who tried their dirty hands at mental disintegration, which ultimately left them mentally disintegrated. Downplaying on Irfan Pathan's future and Irfan silencing Miandad was enough to expose the blatant and cheap hypocrisy by the Pakistan coach and it becomes his righteous duty to visit the gallis and mohallas he mentioned and unearth some talent as good as Irfan !
To add to the already existing chaos, one cannot exclude Looney characters like Rashid Latif (the ultimate source of solace for people like Shoaib Akhtar) and Sarfraz Nawaz (who knows no more than two English words "Match Fixing") detract the cricketing setup in Pakistan. It is really atrocious to see these characters enter into the core of Pakistan cricket making their voices heard even when the PCB turns its deaf ears towards them and the influence of these looneys in any manner will do more harm than good to Pakistan Cricket !
I guess its time for Pakistan cricket to end this so-called "metamorphosis" and call back their senior players like Saqlain Mushtaq, Shahid Afridi to get that ideal combination of youth and experience ! Some of the blokes who played in the Samsung Cup and were hyped to a level the players might have not dreamt of have showed that their talent possesses only in dreaming and not performing and as the PCB Chief said "there is no place in the Pakistan team for those not willing to give 150% on the field", its time the selectors re-think their choices of blunder ! The time has come when Pakistan cricket learns from its own Army's operation against Al-Qaeda in Waziristan and wipe these anti-authority elements off to ensure better administration which will lead to better cricket ! To conclude, I am talking like a frank Indian (which I am) and not like a blunt Pakistani, who according to me should go beyond the "Who Cares" and "Chalta Hai" attitude.
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