The rookie culture in Pakistani cricket

A whole host of problems

Lack of professionalism amongst the Pakistani Cricket Team coupled with inadequate training and coaching facilities, followed with a rusty bureaucratic system of the Pakistani Cricket Board, has led the most popular sport in Pakistan to its current state of decay. The staff that works at PCB hardly tries to embed the spirit of sportsmanship in its daily work routine, and just mechanically performs its regular duties. The office-based culture at PCB means that because the staff isn’t well-acquainted with cricketing culture, the strategies that it formulates to reform it aren’t well-acquainted with it either.

While some would like to blame India and BCCI for plotting a conspiracy against Pakistani cricket, others would like to take a more rational approach and take a position in the middle. It is true that the ‘Big Three’ — India, Australia and England — have control over ICC and thus influence its policies to their own advantage, it is also true that many other countries like South Africa, New Zealand and Sri Lanka are still able to make their way through while the Pakistanis are left always looking for someone else to blame for their own failure.

A performance-based system needs to be set up in which the players are rewarded based on their individual contribution to a match. Factors such as the pitch, ground and weather conditions need to be taken into consideration when developing the respective metrics. For example, under overcast weather conditions, the weight of performance indicators set for batsmen needs to be increased and that for bowlers reduced, to compensate for the fact that it’s difficult to bat in overcast conditions and vice versa.

With the growth of technology, PCB needs to hire video analysts and give training sessions to players on how to build their strategy based on the strengths and weaknesses of the players of other teams

Furthermore, with the growth of technology, PCB needs to hire video analysts and give training sessions to players on how to build their strategy based on the strengths and weaknesses of the players of other teams.

But perhaps the biggest problem with Pakistani Cricketers is that they are not trained to be athletes. If they like batting, they are trained to be a batsman. If they like bowling, they are trained to be a bowler. But hardly anyone is trained to be a fielder, because that is seen to perform a supporting role in the team and is not the primary objective of the game. Perhaps the old saying ‘Catches win Matches’ has been falling on deaf ears all this time. Tell me that you are not embarrassed when you see a Pakistani player dropping a dolly. Maybe, he just got a manicure and didn’t want to ruin it. Players of almost all other teams are trained to be athletes, because this doesn’t only aid their fielding but also their batting, bowling and running between the wickets. Athleticism of players is sometimes the only thing that differentiates the two teams in many crunch matches.

Still, Pakistani International Cricket simply cannot improve unless its domestic cricket is taken care of. Take for example the case of Indian cricket. Considering where it was before the introduction of IPL, one is almost baffled by its progress in the last 6-7 odd years. The experience, exposure and confidence that its domestic players got by playing with and against International players from other countries gave a massive boost to Indian cricket. While it is not free of match fixing scandals, it still demonstrates a totally different level of cricket, so much so that today an India Vs Pakistan match seems like an India Vs Bangladesh match. There is rivalry, but no longer of the same intensity. There is also a strong sense of competitiveness in the Indian cricket team, and so players know that if they don’t perform, they will be ousted, because there are plenty of other players waiting to take their spot. No such system exists for the Pakistani team, and so when there is no threat of losing your position, why even bother performing? Let’s just score a few runs and get as fast to the dressing room to avoid the heat. And I still haven’t got to the match and spot fixing controversies.

While it is true that Pakistani cricket has gone into a downward spiral ever since the ban on International cricket in Pakistan, it does not mean that there are no solutions left for its reform. More and more domestic players should be sent to play county cricket in England, Australia and South Africa. Some would like to profess that the revenues of PCB have suffered a major dent because it can hardly earn anything from the domestic cricket played at Pakistan’s cricket grounds, and so it cannot invest much in Pakistani cricket. But they forget that there are many partnership opportunities that PCB can enter into to sustain itself. The proposed idea of Pakistani Premier League played in the UAE might well just be the game-changer for Pakistani cricket. PCB can enter into partnership with leading businessmen in the UAE to make this a possibility. UAE has already been looking for more ways to sustain itself through tourism after its oil reserves dry out, and so Pakistani Premier League could be a very lucrative investment for it.

The heyday of Pakistani cricket may have been long over, but there is new talent that’s got to offer a lot more than the veterans could even think of. Many emerging Pakistani cricketers are known for their unconventional bowling and batting styles

Moreover, it is time that Test Cricket is given its due status in Pakistan. The majority of the players don’t like to play Test Cricket simply because it gets monotonous and tiring. Part of this attitude is justified because of the low-quality pitches of Pakistani grounds that don’t much good to both the batsman and the bowler. There needs to be a National Test Cricket Tournament in Pakistan in which domestic and national players both participate, just like the Ranji Trophy Tournament in India which has partly been responsible for the huge success of Test Cricket in India.

But the resurgence of Pakistani cricket despite all this still cannot happen unless there is a massive improvement of the grounds’ grass and pitches. But even if this is taken care of, there will be no serious impact unless the players are motivated enough to perform. And this can only be done if there is an audience to support and watch them. How ironic it was to see the commentator claiming the atmosphere to be beautiful in the recent Haier T20 Cricket Tournament, when the stadium was plain empty! The onus is then placed on the marketing staff of PCB to promote its domestic tournaments more and more on television as well as social media. More incentives need to be given to the audience to come to the stadium as well as participate in various games and competitions during the course of the tournament. This calls for endorsement by prominent Pakistani celebrities to come and support the teams and grace the match with their presence. This also means proper arrangement of refreshments and entertainment so that the crowd can stay hooked. And this also means that proper security arrangements are made along with separation of sections for family and individuals so that more and more women are motivated to come to the stadium without the fear of being stared onto by loafers.

So the heyday of Pakistani cricket may have been long over, but there is new talent that’s got to offer a lot more than the veterans could even think of. Many emerging Pakistani cricketers are known for their unconventional bowling and batting styles. If given the right training, they can turn into future superstars in no time, because the International cricket today especially with the rise of T20 demands uniqueness and un-conventionalism. We have the resources, we just need to use them the right way, and not just waste them away.