Wisden: Why are Pakistan this bad at test cricket?

[Vk1]

By the end of the series, there will be analysts like Harsha Bhogle and Manjrekar who would deflect the total blame on the board and beat their chests as if the otherwise world beaters are being stifled 

[Vk1]

Pak are bad at cricket.. infact you take out tampered balls for reverse swing and they have been avg at best for decades 

[vvvslaxman]

 

[New guy]

 

 

[BCCISelector]

On 8/28/2026 at 1:57 AM, deathmonger said:

 

You are just being pedantic here.

 

GDP/capita -> quality of life

GDP/population -> total pool

 

Both matter.

Tend to agree that higher GDP per capita and HDI gives a big headstart in sports. Just to add, despite its massive popularity, cricket in India is played professionally mostly in the big cities where there is higher GDP/HDI. Rest of the country only watches it and doesn't have the resources to pursue it professionally to be able to reach the international level, unless they migrate and train in the big cities.

Just look at the Test team:
Jaiswal -> born in small-town UP -> learnt his cricket in Mumbai
Rahul -> grew up in small-town Karnataka -> learnt his cricket in Bangalore
Padikkal -> born in small-town Kerala -> learnt his cricket in Hyderabad/Bangalore
Gill -> born in small-town Punjab -> learnt his cricket in Chandigarh
Pant -> born in small-town Uttarakhand -> learnt his cricket in Delhi
Jurel -> born in small-town UP -> learnt his cricket in Delhi NCR
... and so on.

We talk about 1.4 billion population but just about 10% of that population lives in those big cities.

Only a handful of players became international quality after learning their game in the remaining 90% of India, with Dhoni being the most notable example. Sooryavanshi is the newest aberration.

Now with rising GDP/HDI, new cricketing centres will emerge in next tier cities like Pune, Indore, Vizag, etc.

 

Edited September 3 by BCCISelector

[putrevus]

On 8/31/2026 at 2:41 PM, sage said:

 

Pakistan always had political interference since Ayub Khan was their president. It is lack of talent which is cause of their decline. 

 

70s and 80s country cricket was refining their talents now those doors are closed.

Edited September 3 by putrevus

[singhvivek141]

9 minutes ago, putrevus said:

Pakistan always had policital interference since Ayub Khan was their president. It is lack of talent which is cause of their decline. 

 

70s and 80s country cricket was refining their talents now those doors are closed.

 

Anyone knows if Cricket is "halaal" or "haraam".

Asim Munir is extremely radical...Ayub Khan was psuedo Islamic given the fact he used to drink heavily. Asim Munir is even more radical than Zia. 

[putrevus]

23 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

 

Anyone knows if Cricket is "halaal" or "haraam".

Asim Munir is extremely radical...Ayub Khan was psuedo Islamic given the fact he used to drink heavily. Asim Munir is even more radical than Zia. 

I did not get your point.

[ravishingravi]

 

[singhvivek141]

3 hours ago, putrevus said:

I did not get your point.

Maybe, Asim Munir consider cricket as anti Islam and is killing the interest at grass root level, instead of promoting it.

[putrevus]

36 minutes ago, singhvivek141 said:

Maybe, Asim Munir consider cricket as anti Islam and is killing the interest at grass root level, instead of promoting it.

, maybe you are right you cannot rule anything out.

[deathmonger]

On 9/3/2026 at 1:52 PM, BCCISelector said:

Tend to agree that higher GDP per capita and HDI gives a big headstart in sports. Just to add, despite its massive popularity, cricket in India is played professionally mostly in the big cities where there is higher GDP/HDI. Rest of the country only watches it and doesn't have the resources to pursue it professionally to be able to reach the international level, unless they migrate and train in the big cities.

Just look at the Test team:
Jaiswal -> born in small-town UP -> learnt his cricket in Mumbai
Rahul -> grew up in small-town Karnataka -> learnt his cricket in Bangalore
Padikkal -> born in small-town Kerala -> learnt his cricket in Hyderabad/Bangalore
Gill -> born in small-town Punjab -> learnt his cricket in Chandigarh
Pant -> born in small-town Uttarakhand -> learnt his cricket in Delhi
Jurel -> born in small-town UP -> learnt his cricket in Delhi NCR
... and so on.

We talk about 1.4 billion population but just about 10% of that population lives in those big cities.

Only a handful of players became international quality after learning their game in the remaining 90% of India, with Dhoni being the most notable example. Sooryavanshi is the newest aberration.

Now with rising GDP/HDI, new cricketing centres will emerge in next tier cities like Pune, Indore, Vizag, etc.

 

yeah but we can see people coming outside those centers too which was not here 20 years ago.

 

t2 centers are now producing good players.

 

jadeja/pujara -> rajkot

sooryavanshi -> patna

samson -> trivandrum/kochi

 

next 20-25 years it should spread to t3/t4 too.

 

 

[singhvivek141]

16 minutes ago, deathmonger said:

yeah but we can see people coming outside those centers too which was not here 20 years ago.

 

t2 centers are now producing good players.

 

jadeja/pujara -> rajkot

sooryavanshi -> patna

samson -> trivandrum/kochi

 

next 20-25 years it should spread to t3/t4 too.

 

 

Not to nitpick...but Jadeja is from Jamnagar.

[deathmonger]

2 hours ago, singhvivek141 said:

Not to nitpick...but Jadeja is from Jamnagar.

Nice. Even better.

[vvvslaxman]

 

[BCCISelector]

2 hours ago, deathmonger said:

yeah but we can see people coming outside those centers too which was not here 20 years ago.

 

t2 centers are now producing good players.

 

jadeja/pujara -> rajkot

sooryavanshi -> patna

samson -> trivandrum/kochi

 

next 20-25 years it should spread to t3/t4 too.

 

 

Gujarat is one of the rare exceptions which is not dependent on one city, with relatively decent distribution of GDP across the state. Vadodara was the original hotbed of cricket. The state's economic growth in the last couple of decades has put other cities like Ahmedabad and Rajkot on the cricket talent map.

Jadeja learned his game in Jamnagar and Axar in Nadiad, but I reckon their game would have been more polished had they trained in the big cities, especially a natural athlete like Jadeja. There's still a bits-and-pieces vibe with both of them.

[sage]

Worst test team in Asia? I think Afg/Bang/SL would all do much better against England here

[jf1gp_1]

Pak today are minnows and Harry brooks a minnow basher. Harry should be called paky brooks.