- Ruthless accountability needed
It really pains to write that Sarfraz Ahmad’s leadership during the entire tour of England (14 ODIs and one T20) was neither inspirational nor motivational. He utterly failed to lead by example. In fact, leaving aside being a captain, his recent stats indicate he cannot be included in the national team, even on his batting abilities.
In the list of Pakistani cricket captains, he will strongly compete for the lowest position. Even his batting in the Champions Trophy final and other matches was at the mercy of opposing fielders, who dropped the dollies he offered.
Sarfaraz Ahmad looks a perfect illustration of the dictum “every person rises to his level of incompetence”, but then so do many others, in our national cricket set up.
Neither the abandoned match against Sri Lanka, nor, any other factor, but the timid, fearful, lost minded and negative approach leadership style of Sarfaraz Ahmad, was the single reason why our team is out of the CWC19 semi-finals.
The other major factor was the uncalled-for presence and wrong influence of the Chief Selector, who was allowed by the Chairman and MD PCB to sit over the head of the captain. Nowhere in the world, is the Chief Selector is imposed over the team management as the PCB did with Inzamam-ul-Haq.
This shows the Chairman and the MD were not professionally fit for their responsibilities, as they themselves looked to be totally overwhelmed by him. The moment he was detached from the players, Pakistan won all their remaining matches against South Africa, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.
The best and easiest way for the Pakistani team to win the next ODI World Cup 2023, T20 World Cup 2020 and Test matches championship, which will include all Test matches to be played between July 2019 till 2023, is to immediately initiate an inquest
As such, the Chairman and the MD must take the ultimate responsibility for the failures, which also badly shattered the World Cup dream of the nation; thus both they should immediately submit their resignations, failing which, the remaining members of the PCB Board of Governors may move a motion of no confidence, against both. However, if no one moves from the BoG, the Patron-in-Chief, Imran Khan, must order a Judicial Inquiry by a Supreme Court judge, to investigate the causes of the national disgrace, caused by our cricket team, by way of worse than pathetic performances [specially in matches with the West Indian {105 all out in 21.4 overs which was overhauled in 13.4 overs}, Australian and Indian teams] in the CWC19 to fix responsibility on the concerned individuals, for further necessary and punitive actions, by the Prime Minister.
This commission may also inquire about the overseas and Pakistani assets all employees (including contractual or honorary) and cricket players affiliated with (directly or indirectly) or contracted by the PCB and serving from 1 January 2008 to 5th July 2019. This commission may minutely examine the total expenses of all PCB officials who toured between Pakistan and England during the period our team visited there, from April 2019 till the end of the World Cup in July 2019; and compare it with the expenses of the total number of players who went to England.
The proposed judicial commission may also demand answers from concerned persons of the following questions:
Who was responsible for dropping Sarfraz Ahmad (when he desperately wanted to play and consequently his leadership role undermined and confidence shattered just before the World Cup) from the team which lost 0-5 against Australia in the UAE in March?
Why Inzamam sidetracked the team’s pathetic performance against Australia wi the absurd reason that our team’s performance was not that as bad as reflected by the result, because it scored (in the five matches) 1,328 runs in comparison with the Australian cumulative score of 1,436 runs This argument misled the nation from the fact that, as in the first match, Pakistan batted first and scored 280/5 which was overhauled by Australia by scoring 281/2. Obviously it was not a competition of scoring total runs in 50 overs and other team was not required to bat after achieving the target. That example proves the ill intentions of the Chief Selector and the team management to hoodwink the nation.
When the Prime Minister issued direct advice to Sarfraz, before the match against India, to bat first after winning the toss (except if the pitch was wet) who forced him to ignore that advice? The latest data of the 41 CWC19 first round matches proves the advice was on the dot, as 27 out of 41 teams batting first did win their matches, which comes to 65.85% success
When PCB is incurring huge expenses (in foreign currency) on professional coaches for every aspect of the game, plus a head coach for devising planning and strategy (who also possessed the unprecedented powers as chairman of the tour selection committee, sidelining the manager) who from the PCB allowed the Chief Selector to be with the team on every foreign visit to interfere with the authority of the coaches; and the captain (commission may also verify the amount was paid to the chief selector during his entire tenure, on account of his salary, perks, TA/DA and all other expenses).
The proposed judicial commission may also investigate the motives for not selecting Muhammad Rizwan, (two centuries in two matches against Australia in March) who passed the fitness test with the highest marks; and the intentions in sending back Abid Ali from England, who was also selected as a second wicketkeeper?
The commission may also verify the medical records of Shadab Khan and Muhammed Amir, declared by the PCB as having hepatitis and chickenpox respectively.
It may also be verified why Shoaib Malik was allowed to take a break of 10 days from the tour, to visit back Pakistan. Moreover, why was he selected for the World Cup after a gap of 12 years, when his batting average in England in 23 innings of all previous tours was just 13.6, and who is responsible for his failure in the Cup, with an average of 2.66?
Who decided to drop Haris Sohail from in the early matches?
On which basis was Asif Ali (not considered against South Africa in January and Australia in March) selected and Ehsan Ali, Musa Khan, M Nawaz and Omar Khan not considered at all?
When Wahab Riaz was not considered for even a single ODI after the June 2017 final of the Champions Trophy, under which mysterious circumstances was he suddenly selected, especially when the Head Coach had earlier Tweeted that Wahab was not included in his planning for future matches?
The best and easiest way for the Pakistani team to win the next ODI World Cup 2023, T20 World Cup 2020 and Test matches championship, which will include all Test matches to be played between July 2019 till 2023, is to immediately initiate an inquest and ruthless accountability by a high powered judicial commission [which can take help from any institution, department or individual] and simultaneous special audit of the PCB by AGP auditors, for all its administrative and financial decisions taken from 1 January 2008 to 5 July. However, if no ruthless accountability is initiated, business as usual will continue.
