Is Pakistan cricket near the precipice?

[Mr. Wicket]

We've seen things unravelling with some time in the national team. A merry go round of players now with the talent depth appearing more and more limited. The days when they could pull a few very talented batsmen or bowlers out of the youth or domestic circuit and chuck them into the national team with some success are long gone. People like Imran Farhat and Mohammad Sami have gone through selection merry go rounds, discarded and called back because selectors realise there's nobody else who's better. Now the talent pool's thinning rapidly with the ICL attracting a number of players, and there seem to be very few others coming through to replace them or provide even adequate backup. The likes of Sohail Tanvir and Fawad Alam are just not that good, and Salman Butt is the only young high quality batsman they've produced in several years (Misbah is very talented, but he's 33 and I don't expect him to be around that much longer). As for the bowlers, there's very little there. Unless one or both of Mansoor Amjad and Tariq Mahmood turn out to be marvel spinners (unlikely, from what I have seen of both), they'll not have that much of a bowling attack. The depth is average - much hyped Anwar Ali has been smashed around by a bunch of kids from Bombay, Sami keeps being recalled and guys like Tanvir and Arafat are just not test class. The most telling thing is their recent showings at the U19 level. This is an area where historically they've been very strong with lots of the younger talent shining and impressing. If their last 2 games of the U19 WC are any indication, they're in trouble when the next generation is struggling against a rather weak NZ side and a Zimbabwean kids lineup. The board's getting thin on money, players are bailing out to India and money, and the youngsters aren't as dominant as they once were. Younis, Yousuf and Misbah are holding it all together right now. In a few years when one or two of them retire and the others are past their prime, I suspect things could start crashing down. Hard.

[kumble_rocks]

Yes, Pakistan cricket is on the brink of disaster. They never had a structured recruitment in the first place. Previously , talent was spotted by confident , assertive and winning captains like Imran Khan and to some extent likes of Miandad and Wasim Akram. In fact , champion players like Wasim ,Waqar , Inzi etc have all been spotted by former great captains and they just made it to the national team just on their insistence. They do not have a such assertive captains any more. Also , the ad hoc-ism in the PCB continues to grow and open doors for favoritism and cronyism. PCB needs to stop having four star generals running their show. This trend of unprofessional structureless cricket board is actually perpetuating the kind of chaos in which the mediocre get rewarded and the talented never makes it to the team. I don't think lack of skills is the issue here or maybe to a small extent, that's all.

[Dhondy]

The signs are not good. There's no bench strength, and players are deserting the domestic game in hordes. In the short term though, their fortunes will be decided by just two players- Asif & Gul. If they can recapture their pre-injury form, Pakistan will still be a side to reckon with, as they have a bankably strong middle order. However, if these two break down or regress to the mean, it's all over.

[Mr. Wicket]

In the short term, their middle order is strong. In the longer term, not so. Misbah and Yousuf are 33/34ish, and Yousuf's already showing serious back problems. In a couple of years, things will be very different. As for Asif and Gul, both are perpetually injured. Gul plays a few, misses a handful more. Shoaib's past his prime and only is tolerated because the PCB have no one better. Very worrying times for them ahead. And as KR pointed out, they lack leaders to guide the team forward. Imran had the ability to handle a turbulent, volatile bunch. Akram managed it quite well, but since then the team's gone backwards.

[kumble_rocks]

Bench strength is not because of dearth of talent I would presume. I remember , Vengsarkar echoing similar sentiments last year , when he made his famous proclamation that their is no talent and look at our bench strength now. We have talented players like Rohit Sharma , Badrinath etc we can't even make it to the national team.

[The Outsider]

How Asif performs without his fixes is also an open question? Gul is a good bowler but not sure he can come back strongly after so many injuries so early on in his career.

[Mr. Wicket]

I took Vengsarkar's statement with a grain of salt then, or as more a hard push to the youngsters to prove themselves and prove him wrong. (or possibly a media-led misquote/foot in mouth moment) This after all is the guy who picked out Rohit Sharma as the future of India's batting back when he was only 16 in a KSCA game.

[The Outsider]

Bench strength is not because of dearth of talent I would presume. I remember ' date=' Vengsarkar echoing similar sentiments last year , when he made his famous proclamation that their is no talent and look at our bench strength now. We have talented players like Rohit Sharma , Badrinath etc we can't even make it to the national team.[/quote'] I tend to agree with that. There might be some good prospects in Pakistan domestics who are not getting their chances because for some reason the Pakistani selectors keep recycling the same garbage, rather than take a punt or two with some unknown name.

[Mr. Wicket]

So why is it that when the best domestic side in Pakistan took on a Mumbai side lacking most key players and fielding FIVE debutants, the Mumbai lineup flogged Karachi a few months ago? And why is it that after years of being ultra-dominant at U19 level, Pakistan are now suddenly squeezing through by a bee's dick against the likes of NZ and Zimbabwe?

[Dhondy]

Yes, for some reason, the promising youngsters from the U19s are not making the grade. Remember the two demon bowlers from the last U19 WC- Anwar Ali and the other one? I think Ali is still around, but he's taking far too long to break into the senior squad. Pakistan also has a very high proportion of bowlers with suspect action in their domestic setup. You'll remember that promising off-spinner, Tariq, whose action fell under the scanner, the promising leggie Mansoor Amjad, who never made it, the wikie Zulqarnain who's forever been playing bridesmaid to Akmal.

[Mr. Wicket]

That demon bowler Anwar Ali? 37-3-148-2 against that bunch of debutants and youngsters in that Mohammad Nissar trophy game recently! At present, his f/c average is just a tick under 30, and his List A average is nearly 49.

[Bumper]

Pak cricket setup has always been chaotic, characterised by wild players, indiscipline, fitness issues, incompetent board, among other things. Yet, they managed to salvage some success in the past, because of the overall high talent pool they had access to and some strong leadership. In general, Pak's success is directly attributable to who is incharge. During Imran or Akram's era, Pak cricket scaled its peaks. It dipped in Waqar's era & again resurrected in Woolmer & Shahryar Khan's era (who both teamed up with Inzi to produce some decent results). Now they are stuck with poor leaders in DNA & Malik. Without sufficient bench strength & lack of proper work load management, they will continue to lose their bowlers to injuries. Building a consistently winning test unit from here, is gonna be difficult, as their batsmen & bowlers thrive on conflicting conditions. Their batsmen need a road to succeed and their bowlers need a bit of juice in the pitch to bowl opponents out. ICL & IPL make it further more challenging for them to build any teams, as unlike Indian players, Pak players are insecure about their financial future & will likely pull the trigger on a life changing deal, abandoning their national team. I hope i havent jinxed them. Lemme try the reverse. Write this Pak team off at your own peril!

[Dhondy]

Bumps, the financial insecurity also bites them in other ways. Asif (and Gul as well, I think) were both flogged to death by their counties, and Danish Kaneria became the most overexposed spinner in the world, with everybody finding out about his repertoire. I know Zaheer benefited from county cricket, but that was just for one year. These guys do it year on year.

[sm332]

it will be sad if another country goes by the wayside .. world cricket cant afford another weak intl side ... as it is there are few and far between quality sides to begin with. Pak is always capable of surprising us ... but the writing on the wall isnt great

[Bumper]

Bumps, the financial insecurity also bites them in other ways. Asif (and Gul as well, I think) were both flogged to death by their counties, and Danish Kaneria became the most overexposed spinner in the world, with everybody finding out about his repertoire. I know Zaheer benefited from county cricket, but that was just for one year. These guys do it year on year.

I still think Asif (if he ever manages to get out of his injury streak) is one player, who can change their fortunes. I dont rate Gul that highly as a test bowler, yet. But getting all their stars in one team & getting them to fire together is gonna be an issue. For this reason, Pakistan cricket will continue to produce hit or miss type results. They will never be a consistent team, until they find two more bowlers of test quality & test quality openers to back their middle order. I dont think India is too far off from a worrying batting lineup. Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid, SRT & Kumble will all retire together sometime in the next 2 years, at which time, we will have to go thru a significant rebuilding phase! We may for a while see the overall standard of test cricket around the world dip a bit, as a few teams will lose their all time greats, all at the same time.

[Mr. Wicket]

I dont think India is too far off from a worrying batting lineup. Laxman, Ganguly, Dravid, SRT & Kumble will all retire together sometime in the next 2 years, at which time, we will have to go thru a significant rebuilding phase! We may for a while see the overall standard of test cricket around the world dip a bit, as a few teams will lose their all time greats, all at the same time.

The difference is that as India's batting declines, their bowling is shooting from strength to strength. Zaheer, RP Singh, Ishant, Sreesanth, Irfan in reserve and someone as talented as Sangwan coming up in the youth circuit. There've never been such riches in terms of pace bowling. And while the batting can't be replaced, I reckon that in five years time, a lineup led by Sehwag, Rahane and Rohit will be racking up some major plaudits.