It has been a sad few months for Pakistani cricket. The disappointing performances, first in Asia cup and then in the WT20 are, however, just a little part of it. The major part of this disappointment is the reaction we got from the so called higher ups, the managers or the management of our cricketing affairs.
I have gone through the “facts” presented by Mr. Waqar Younis and Mr. Intikhab Alam, miss management of affairs have ensured that any and all cricket followers around the globe find easy access to those reports meant for the concerned management of PCB only. It is like opening your war room to the enemy: bravo, let’s blame the captain or the bowlers or the batting line for that too, shall we?
I grew up watching Wasim and Waqar bowl the opposition out and destroy them; they were my first love with cricket. What have become of Waqar now hurts me more than most. Sir, you were the coach of this team. I wish you had the guts to take some of the responsibility rather than blame it all on one man, Shahid Afridi. The points you wrote in your “fact” report, you seriously think any of this is something that an ordinary man who just happens to follow Pakistan cricket won’t know already? It’s either that or maybe you think that the people you presented this reports to actually are not even ordinary men following Pakistan cricket. The chances of later being true are much higher.
Same goes for you sir, Mr. Intikhab Alam, the person responsible for selecting the squad in the first place that you are so avidly criticizing now. Shahid Afridi is a clueless captain? What about the people who selected him and the likes of him for the team? All you say now is what already is known so how will you like to justify your own position or need in the team? You are there to cry over spilt milk? Why you woke up when it’s already too late? You people, all of you so called support staff travel on tax payers money to abroad, travelling with team and enjoying equal protocol. While the players are there on the field sweating it out your guys are sitting in air conditioned rooms looking for the scapegoat if things go wrong? Why were you with the team if all you can do is announce what we all already know after it have already happened? Won’t a job of a village marasi suite you more where you can just announce the death news after one is already dead? Selectors and coaches in other teams are doctors preventing that death.
Just to point you people, the management to another fact, one like you people should be keeping an eye on but you conveniently ignored because your own job was not at stake if you failed to point this one out. In ODI cricket, only four bowlers have claimed 400 or more wickets, name of their countries are there on the list in front of their own names and it will stay this way for ever. In case you were busy filing your “fact reports” and don’t know the names, they are M Muralitharan, the spic magician. Wasim Akram, the sultan of swing. Waqar Younis, the Burewala Express, the toe crusher. Chaminda Vass, the accurate and fast seam bowler from Sri Lanka. You know who fifth is on that list? Your very own “clueless captain”. However the whole management have proven to be as clueless as him I guess that no one asked him to be part of a couple more ODI and get the two wickets he needs to complete his 400 haul making him only the fifth bowler in the history of cricket to achieve that feat and the third proud Pakistani. What an achievement that would or could have been for PAKISTAN, my country. This is one record that would have stayed for DECADES because the next bowler in that list with some couple of years left in his career may be Shakib Al Hasan, with wickets tally down to 206 only. In short, this record will be there for a long time for Pakistan, but all of you are “clueless”.
Why should Haroon Rasheed still be on payroll of PCB after this debacle? As for Shahid Afridi, he should never have been appointed as a captain, because he is indisciplined and not aware of basic rules. He had no clue that in T20 there are no reviews. Even if he is not fit enough to take active part in training, as a captan he should be physically present in field so that other team members can take part in practice session. As a captain it was Shahid Afridi's responsibility to lead by example and not to act like a rogue, breaking curfew restrictions enforced on players which remain in force during days match is in session.
I don’t know who wrote this but why is he or she did not write name?
Look open letters are meant for self respecting dignified persons. You wasted your time.
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