Pakistan cricket team’s journey in the World Cup has come to its logical conclusion after its dismal performance in all areas of the game, including leadership. Winning and losing is a collective responsibility and so shall be the accountability.

In my article, “Calm intensity: the key to world cup success” published on 8th October, I wrote, “There are questions about Babar’s leadership abilities. He has yet to win a major tournament for Pakistan. A well settled opening pair, a penetrating bowling attack is yet to come good, and above all in this more than month long tournament, it will be a test of physical and mental fitness of the squad which is supported by a 15-member support staff.”

The failure of the Pakistan team in the World Cup is the failure of the cricket system in Pakistan which is so weedy and unprofessional that it can’t even produce a proper fifteen- member team from a one-sport nation. From the appointment of the chairman of the board to the appointment of the head of the selection committee to the army of needless and contemptible HR reveal the appalling story of cricket affairs in Pakistan.

Pakistan conceded 134 extras in 9 matches. Pakistan team was 7th in ranking in balls per boundary with only Afghanistan, Netherland and Bangladesh behind them.

Pakistani players took 53.13 balls to hit a six which was one of the lowest in the tournament. If we look at the percentage of aggressive shots in the first ten overs, Pakistan is at the bottom of the table with a percentage of 17.96.

This was a World Cup where the two new balls were attacked more than ever, and Pakistan had the fourth worst run rate in the first power play. No team made boundary attempts to a smaller percentage (17.52) of deliveries bowled in the first power play than Pakistan. A lot of other statistics are available on the net for stats-loving readers to assess the objectivity of Pakistan team’s performance, which was evident from the day we participated in Asia Cup, and the two warm up matches against Australia and New Zealand.

The “friends eleven” lacked necessary fitness, skill, determination, tenacity, preparation, approach, match planning, mental toughness and leadership required to make an impact in such a major tournament.

In my article, “Distributing the burden of leadership”, published on 11th Dec 2022 after England’s tour to Pakistan, I wrote that Pakistan needs to find someone other than Babar Azam to lead the side, and the burden of leadership must be taken off from his shoulders to preserve this strategic asset of Pakistan cricket for its future.

Pakistan will be facing Australia in Perth on 14th December in their first Test after a 4-day warm-up match in Manuka Oval that starts on 6th.

It will be quite interesting to watch the steps taken by the new setup. Critics will closely watch how effectively this new setup puts its foot down in the selection of deserving players like Faisal Akram, Aamir Jamal, Tayyab Tahir and Ali Zaryab, and how much weightage is given to the performance of players in domestic circuit.

Pakistan has had an unsettled cricket Structure since 1952. Cricketers get few opportunities to get groomed in local city cricket set up. School cricket is equally sketchy with very limited coaching and proper playing facilities at the grassroots. PSL performances have superseded domestic cricket performances and because of this dangerous trend every cricketer in the country wants to play PSL and not the serious four-day local games.

There is a lot to be done to salvage the pride of Pakistan cricket which has declined to the level of hockey and squash due to unprofessional and unethical practices in the game.

The issue of coaching also needs to be addressed for once and all.

I am of the opinion that services of a foreign coach may be hired as a master trainer to run the coaching courses and assessment processes for the local coaches, who should be later employed at different levels according to their performance and qualifications with clear career paths of progression to the top.

Grassroots cricket reforms and structural transformations is a long effort that requires dedication, commitment and professionalism. In order to address the gaps immediately and bring some sort of sanity, the National Cricket Academy (NCA) or the High Performance Center must be put in order.

There is a need to select forty to fifty young players from Pakistan A team and Pakistan under 19 through objective selection criteria, and put them under a long-term training programme, covering all aspects of modern cricket and specialised physical and mental training regimes, under local and foreign specialists. The 18-member team selected out of these players shall then play matches in Australia, England and if possible India for further grooming. Those performing well in these matches shall ultimately find their way into the national side as potential bench strength, and replacement of underperforming and out-of-form stalwarts.

Unfortunately, those at the helm of affairs have their own priorities and are not willing to put the horse in front of the cart.

In such a situation I don’t see much improvement in the system. There will be a few meetings with ex cricketers, rolling of odd heads, hurried appointments of vocal former cricketers to save top positions in the board, and an odd press conference to cool down the high temperatures in cricket circles, but the business in PCB shall continue as usual, because cricket is a billion-dollar business which everyone wants to clasp at all cost.

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