what ails pak cricket...?

shared by straight point on Tuesday, August 04, 2009

is it amalgamation of egos working overtime...?

is it fixations with stars rather the earnest performers...?

or is it too many players allowed to create their own comfort zones...?

i think bit of all above...

so you see danish kaneria left out from the squad while you see afridi, the spinner, failing in conditions conducive to spin...

you see the frenzy for imaran nazir coz he thrashed some hapless retarded bowlers in certain icl...playing for lahore badhshahs...while the fact remains that he still plays the same way when he debuted and for exactly the same reason he was dropped to find some solace in icl...

when selecting MoYo the message sent across to many earnest player fighting hard to find a place in team was...that it’s ok to bitch pak cricket...bitch pak team...we don’t care...

and then there is this inexplicable persistence on dead rubber bullies...specially kamran akmal...who has been given license to drop catches...miss stumping...fumble even regulation takes behind wicket...(infact he opened the account of this odi series with the dropping of jayasuriya...) coz he has this uncanny habit to score in those dead rubber matches...

while there is certain sarfaraz waiting in the wings forever despite him being much better wicket keeper and admittedly ever improving batting skills...(knowledge courtesy Q...)

no wonder they are collapso kings coz even in mid of collapse you can find them going for the glory shots while the need is to let the moment pass...with some solid but selfless play...

no wonder they collapse like nine pins regularly coz they are unable to promote earnest players who can do the dirty job in the middle order and in middle...coz the emphasis has always been on dashers... blazers... continued persistence with afridi as bat (while he is not) and frenzy for imran nazir being the case in point...

all this when its not rocket science that what pak need is a solid opener and one dravid like player in the middle order...

less said about egos the better...

pakistan’s administrators and selectors need to pull up their socks coz more stringent tests for team pak awaiting them in not so distant future...

though i fear what will happen if afridi is to win the sole t20 match against srilanka...

10 comments:

SM said...

Wonderful post SP . I couldnt agree with you more on the fact that stringent tests await Pak cricket in a not so distant future .. Can this be any well pitched ?

straight point said...

thanks SM!

but are they ready...? now they can't even offer excuses having played all forms of game of late...

Anonymous said...

Absolutely spot on. But then do they agree. Did u read Q when he said ICL players are fine ?

Butt shud be gone and he shud be sacked right away.

I dont think so the PCB, the selectors and the team management have in it to arrest this slide.

biggest mistake they did was to turn to the oldies who have failed and are selfish.

hopeless stuff hai ji....

SM said...

Sam SP , I think the problem is much more , top to bottom than it comes to the eyes . baring couple of star performers , Pak cricket has never been as convincing as astralians till abt couple of years ago or Indians of now . I dont know somehow in my initial posts I garnered a lot of flag when i said that winnign T20 was a fluke .. LOL

Q said...

"though i fear what will happen if afridi is to win the sole t20 match against srilanka..."

Haha.. the whole nation will hail him as the best captain for Pakistan and demand him to take over the captaincy of the ODI team!!

On a more serious note, here's the thing. Its not about the administration or the selectors.

The pool of players that Pakistan has right now is perfect. These are the best cricketers in Pakistan today.

If you take a look at who Pakistan has played in international cricket since January 2008 the list will read Zimbabwe, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, West Indies.

And against India it was a few matches in the Kitply and a few in the Asia Cup.

Yes they played Australia in a 5 match ODI series but it was 2nd string Australia.

During this time they have played tests only against Sri Lanka.

So to expect them to do well on their first full tour in 18 months is a big ask.

They are NOT a good ODI or test team.. they have not been for a long time now and they will not be till they play stronger nations more regularly..

They can't be expected to keep playing against the weakers sides, do well, and then turn up against top sides and compete.

For that the whole team and the players need time.

That is something the fans are not giving them.

Yes there is tougher opposition ahead but they cannot be faced if the current lot of cricketers are not persisted with.

There isn't more to it.. they are not playing good cricket and they need to be playing more regularly and against better sides to improve.

Why look beyond that?

And SM the reason the T20 win was not a fluke was because though Pakistan have not been a good ODI or Test side for a long time now, they have been an awesome T20 team since they started playing that format. The record is there for everyone to see.

2 T20 world cup finals in 2 years cannot be a fluke. More importantly it cannot be a fluke when the team has lost only 25% of the T20 matches it has played in the last 4 years.

Being a great t20 team does not mean they have to be good in ODIs and tests.

For that the players need application.. something they may gain by playing more often.

straight point said...

sam...when i write a post i do not read anybodies post for the simple reason that i don't want to directly or indirectly influence my thoughts...

i dont think changing few personnel going to change the situation ala yunis being captain and results as well as collapses are same...

they need to change the mindset and find players who can dig it out when needed...

having said that i hope that they dont make fawad and umar akmal the scapegoat and don't increase pressure on younis to step down...

straight point said...

sm

winning a t20 can be fluke but wining world t20 when you have to beat teams consistently can not be...
lets give them credit where they deserve...

straight point said...

i understand your POV Q...and agree on most counts...

the knee jerk reactions should be avoided but at the same time there is no harm in tweaking it a bit...

pak will be playing tougher opponents in more demanding conditions and it wont harm them a bit if they use this opportunity to give chances to some players and see if any positives can be gained...specially now as the series is dead...

Gaurav Sethi said...

I'll stay with the Afridi wins them the T20 - expect Pak media to go bonkers, no different from here.

Be tricky, there will be added pressure for change, which is premature. But at the same time it will be exciting, what the hell.

But I still think Younis should captain them; just not scoring and that's a problem. Doesn't help when yr sr players let you down too - if Misbah doesn't gel, they gotta weed him out. He and MoYo have a strange way on field, but that's a diff train of though.

straight point said...

they are all pushing in different directions..younis clearly seems to favor seniors...but he should know that ultimately its him who will have to give ans to waiting fans and selectors...

about me...

BCC!straight point (sp) is restless... relentless... but a fun loving guy... likes to live life to fullest... trying to discover himself through cricket... welcome to this little world of his...

sp is also a bored member at BCC!

sp tweets

     


    © straight points
    straight points by sp is licensed under a creative commons attribution noncommercial-no derivative works 2.5 india license. based on a work at straightpoints.blogspot.com
    this blog takes no responsibility for statements posted by participants

    this blog is best viewed with Mozilla FireFox at a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels
    thanks for the visit!!