CricInfo Home
News Home

NEWS FOCUS
Rsa in Pak
NZ in India
Zim in Aus

Domestic
Other Series

The recently concluded Morocco Cup exposed Pakistan Cricket Board's (PCB) policy which has been to project the establishment at the cost of the players. The image of a sports body is reflected by the performance of the players and not the other way round.

PCB has a novel method of dealing with the players. Sometimes it supports the players beyond all limits and then it drops them like a hot cake on the slightest pretext. The people at the helm of affairs want to run cricket issues on personal whims which has shaken the confidence of the players and because of this the performance graph of our team has not been consistent.

The team's inconsistent performance is the result of board's ad hoc policies manipulated by one of its advisers, a former Pakistan captain, who himself was a mediocre cricketer in his heydays.

When the adviser was captain of the Pakistan team he tried to promote off-spinner Arshad Khan and tried every time to run down Saqlain Mushtaq, a world class off-spinner highly acknowledged by all the greats of the game. Somehow, the adviser who has a sort of complex against players like Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq never gives them the credit they deserve.

Wasim Akram and Saqlain Mushtaq were dropped in the final against Sir Lanka in the Asian Cricket Championship at Lahore and Pakistan lost.

History repeated itself at Tangiers in the crucial match against South Africa where Saqlain and Saeed Anwar were dropped against South Africa in the do or die tie.

Instead of playing them, the tour management committee, preferred Shoaib Malik as for some time the PCB high ups have been projecting him as an all-rounder. He replaced Saeed Anwar as an opener and Saqlain Mushtaq as an off-spinner. The board thought that it will be killing two birds with one stone but its move backfired for the second time.

Inclusion of Shoaib Malik in fact exposed the cricket management's wrong policies when he conceded 15 runs in just one over that he bowled. The team captain perhaps on the advice of the dressing room just to save humiliation did not expose him further.

When he came to bat, with the departure of Imran Nazir, Shahid Afridi who was sent in the earlier matches at No. 9 was all of a sudden promoted to No. 3, Shahid, in his own style collared the South African bowling and when he seemed to be tearing it apart, he hardly got any support from the other end where Shoaib played couple of maiden overs. This dampened the spirit of the team and sent wrong signals into the dressing room. When he was out the new batsmen came under undue pressure.

The theory of rotation of players now being preached by the PCB high-ups just backfired. No doubt the players should be saved from burnout but who should decide when someone has to be rested. The first choice should be of the players themselves and then others come in for their views. The team management on its own cannot and should not take the decision.

Secondly, the policy cannot be applied every time. The team situation too has to be taken into consideration. If Saeed Anwar and Saqlain were rested on the policy of rotation, those who took the decision should be taken to task. They have no business to be paid heavily for such nonsense. It was a do or die situation and none of the players would have liked to be rested in such a situation.

PCB hired an army of specialists to accompany the team on every tour. There is a analyst, a psychiatrist, a team doctor, a physiotherapist, a manager and a coach. One would just like to know what has been the achievement of the psychiatrist. What wonders has he performed with the players. When the team won the series against Australia, every official was rewarded for his contribution to the team's effort. They were all presented before the President who acknowledged their services and duly rewarded them.

It seems that perhaps, victory against Australia was the end of cricket world. The PCB officials jumped to the conclusion that they have found a world beating combination and the World Cup next year is just a formality.

It started, in fact blackmailing the players. When wicket-keeper Rashid Latif asked for permission to go to Houston (United States) to play in the double wicket championship last month, the PCB delayed the permission. But later Rashid Latif was allowed to proceed to Houston after some other players were given permission for the same trip.

These are dirty tricks and cheap management. Such tricks do more harm to the game and the team spirit than doing any good. The job of dealing with 16 players with different background, and different bloodline requires extraordinary intelligence, patience, farsightedness and perseverance.

Shoaib Akhtar is being praised by all the high-ups of the board beyond imagination. No doubt he is rated as the fastest bowler today. But he has to conduct himself in order to remain on top. He should be treated at par with other players of the team. Any preferential treatment will cause heartburn among the players. Wasim Akram though down the hill, is the greatest bowler that Pakistan has produced. He has 400 victims in both the editions of the game. A milestone which, Shoaib, perhaps will never be able to achieve.

How come Shoaib was allowed to proceed to United Kingdom when the team was in camp training for the Morocco Cup, Kenya and Sri Lanka tours. He wanted a break. Well if he wanted a break how come he was playing in England? What sort of break is this? Can the PCB chief please explain?

Now it has been gathered that Dr Meesaq Rizvi is being sent to England to check on the fitness of Shoaib Akhtar for his inclusionfor the Kenya tour. It seems that Dr Rizvi is more qualified than doctors in England. If the board wanted to oblige Dr Rizvi, it could have appointed him as the team doctor. His assignment to test Shoaib is mind-boggling and a sheer waste of money.

If Shoaib wanted his inclusion in the team, he should have been asked to come home and report to the PCB which could have arranged a cost free test and put him at one of the academies to gain full fitness if he was really out of action during his absence.

The PCB should treat all the players alike. It should not give stepmotherly treatment to some and go out of its way to pamper others. Unless this policy is adopted for all the team members, no one should expect any better performance. Nobody is prepared to believe that a team which has ten centurions in its line up cannot chase a target of 196 runs. It was because of poor policy of the PCB that we have not been able to build a world beating combination.

© Dawn