Cricket situation

Disgraceful

It has become obvious that neither senior cricket team players nor senior Board management realise that winning and losing is accepted as part of the game only when incompetence and mismanagement have been overcome. The Pakistani cricket machinery – top to bottom – can no longer be forgiven for finally running the sport into the ground. According to news reports, Afridi has finally realised his presence no longer does him, the team, or the fans any good. And others, including some old-timers, as well as the selector and coach, have been informed of their impending unceremonious departure upon arrival back home.

But all this has happened before. So often the national outfit has gone for an important outing – usually the longer format World Cup – and returned, after a drubbing, to a shake-up up-and-down the team order. Waqar knows this better than most people; he was captain in the disastrous ’03 World Cup in South Africa, after all, after which he never played for Pakistan; nor did Wasim Akram or Saeed Anwar for that matter. A similar overhaul took place after the next Cup, after the loss to Ireland forced us out early. And not much has changed since then.

Not much is likely to, either, unless necessary action is taken where the rot is centred – the PCB. Shaharyar Khan and Najam Sethi see it fit to chuck out non-performers but refuse to apply the same logic to themselves. Time and again the improper nature of their appointments has been exposed, to the disadvantage of the team and the country, yet they continue to enjoy their ‘prestigious’ assignments. Since these positions come with more than a fair share of perks, not just the financial kind, they must also be held accountable according to strict standards. Unless the Board is cleansed of this incompetence and disintegration, not much is going to change.