LAHORE: On Monday, in a nearby hotel, up to twenty former Pakistan Test players met with Mohsin Naqvi, the head of the cricket board of the nation. During their meeting, several recommendations were made regarding possible solutions to the national team’s problems following their terrible elimination from the T20 World Cup last month.
The head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), who had demanded a “surgery” after Pakistan was humiliated by the USA in their T20 championship opener, invited the former players in an effort to clean up the mess the national sport had descended into.
As Mohsin searched for ideas to boost Pakistan’s domestic cricket game, the former players did not hold back in venting their dissatisfaction with the team’s performance in the T20 World Cup.
Babar Azam, the captain of Pakistan, faced criticism for his leadership style during the tournament, but the conference did not address his future in that capacity.
The national squad’s selection was criticized by former cricket players, including Intiqab Alam, Sadiq Mohammad, Iqbal Qasim, Haroon Rasheed, Salim Altaf, Sikandar Bakhat, Sarfraz Ahmed, Shafqat Rana, Rashid Khan, and Wajahatullah Wasti.
One of them felt that since the World Cup was being hosted in the United States and the West Indies, Pakistan did not really need three spinners.
Others, on the other hand, were incensed that Azam Khan and Usman Khan were chosen rather than Abdullah Shafique and Salman Ali Agha because they thought the latter two were superior candidates.
Forming a national cricket committee and adding former Test players to the PCB’s Board of Governors—which at the moment does not have a single Test cricketer—was one of the useful recommendations made to the chairman.
According to some former players, the nation’s under-19 cricket teams should receive the highest priority and should have access to elite coaches.
The decentralization of domestic cricket was suggested by the former players as a structural change. This would allow the PCB to transfer authority to the regions and possibly avoid having to use its own reserves to pay regional cricket operations.
It’s interesting to note that the PCB asked cricket players for ideas on how to make domestic cricket better.
However, the board only gave them a general overview, noting that the PCB would be fielding 18 regional teams from 16 areas (two from each of the Lahore and Karachi regions and one from each of the 14 regions) to play first-class cricket this year.
Five teams comprised of the top 150 finishers from the regional tournaments will compete in another elite competition.
The head coach of Pakistan’s white-ball team, Gary Kirsten, and assistant coach, Azhar Mahmood, who both came here on Monday morning, were set to meet with the PCB chief late that night.
Jason Gillespie, Pakistan’s freshly appointed Test coach, was scheduled to visit Mohsin late on Monday night as well.
