Pakistan Cricket Crises and The Way Forward.

[Utalk]

I grew up watching Pakistan as one of the better teams around with one of the best captain leading us.We had some of the most exciting talent on show.It pains me to say that we as cricket nation are nothing but a mess currently.Lets look at it closely as why we are in a state we are in. First of all we should be thankful that we still have an international cricket team.Our players and cricket governing body are the the main culprits here.We need to come out of this victim mentality and get our house in order and stop blaming others for the mess largely created by ourselves. We had players tested positive for performance enhancing drugs that should've been punished but were let off. We left SL cricket team high and dry after promising them presidential level security and worse started blaming others instead of looking closer to home.Whoever was behind those attacks it was our responsibility to make sure terrorists did not succeed. Our players were caught red handed selling their country to earn few bob at a time when our country was going through a natural disaster.I know players from other teams were involved in fixing in the past but cricket community rightly or wrongly believed to have moved on from them dark days of 90s.It was our players who were caught and cricket authorities in Pakistan needed to take responsibility and act accordingly. Instead of punishing them our board chief went into hiding for a week and came out with baseless allegations against those who had given us home to play cricket. Our board needed to suspend the trio until the thorough investigation.It took ICC to punish the fixers because our governing body was doing nothing. Convicted match fixers are sitting on national media giving expert opinion.Every week there are tv shows crying conspiracy.People back home need to know that papers like NOTW did not target Pakistan because of some Saazish they did it to sell their paper.This paper has history of publishing damaging stories about Eng football stars on the eve of major tournaments. A serial cheat is leading our team and the guy who is running our board is the most incompetent person we could find.He should've got sacked two years ago. There is still time to get our cricket on track.These are some steps that will go a long way towards repairing some of the damage. *Get rid of Ijaz butt.That would be a good start. *Bring in a personality respected at international stage.Sheryar Khan or Majid Khan. *Do your own inquiry of the whole fixing issue and punish the culprits severely(life bans). *Hire an international PR consultant to improve your image. *People with tainted past should not be allowed to work with the team.cough Waqar and Ijaz ahmed. *Educate the players on their responsibilities before they are picked for the national team. *At ICC level make decisions on principles rather then then the blind region based voting like early 2000s. ps.Please leave politics,terrorism,partition out of this thread and give us your honest opinion as a neutral cricket fan. __________________

[ganeshran]

Pakistan should invite associate teams to tour them and demonstrate the security situation in the country. Improve relations with BCCI which have been extremely damaged under Ijaz Butt (who should be kicked out). Players should get a media manager and not allowed to make any statements to the media. Putting a basic system in place to look for talent at the grassroot level, spending more in school and city level tournaments (applies to BCCI also) Put more money in the lowest level of cricket and not make only the international players heavily paid while others are given meagre wages (applies to BCCI also)

[Utalk]

Pakistan should invite associate teams to tour them and demonstrate the security situation in the country. Improve relations with BCCI which have been extremely damaged under Ijaz Butt (who should be kicked out). Players should get a media manager and not allowed to make any statements to the media. Putting a basic system in place to look for talent at the grassroot level, spending more in school and city level tournaments (applies to BCCI also) Put more money in the lowest level of cricket and not make only the international players heavily paid while others are given meagre wages (applies to BCCI also)

We need to improve our image before anything else.Too much damage has been done in last two years.

[Rana]

Pakistan has a looooong way to go. But the fans want cricket.

[DomainK]

The problem is so deep rooted in your system that it will take an extraordinary effort to get rid of it. Currently, I think the team will have to just make do with it because looking at it practically, it's not getting solved anytime soon in near future.

[Zap_Brannigan]

Getting cricket back to pakistan right now should not be the priority. Even if they did, apart from SL, BD and Zim, i dont see any other team touring pak. What they need to do is develop a good and profitable 3rd country for cricket. UAE is the best and probably only option. They need to promote cricket there and get people into the stadium. The other option is to play only away games but with shared profit. Then they need to get rid of corrupted player no matter how weak they will be without them. There were 7 players in majeeds pockets but only 3 are punished. Crooks beget more crooks. Educate the players and put a permanent gag order on its players, staff and anyone associated with PCB. Every statement or interviews should be vetted by a media manger and only the players who dont run their mouth should be allowed in press conferences. Then pigs will fly.

[akshayxyz]

You can not expect Sports/Cricket to grow in isolation from state of affairs in rest of the country. The hard truth is - first thing that has to fall in place is the country itself. Consistent excellence in sports is a reflection of economics and country's growth/development. And it is going to take monumental effort and discipline for Pakistan to turn things around from where it is today. Until then isolated moments of brilliance here and there is the best one can expect. Very much relevant to how an individual/society grows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs .

[Stuge]

Getting cricket back to pakistan right now should not be the priority. Even if they did, apart from SL, BD and Zim, i dont see any other team touring pak. What they need to do is develop a good and profitable 3rd country for cricket. UAE is the best and probably only option. They need to promote cricket there and get people into the stadium.

i don't think current sl team will tour pak again in their life.specially players who were attacked.

[Fontaine]

I grew up watching Pakistan as one of the better teams around with one of the best captain leading us.We had some of the most exciting talent on show.It pains me to say that we as cricket nation are nothing but a mess currently.Lets look at it closely as why we are in a state we are in. First of all we should be thankful that we still have an international cricket team.Our players and cricket governing body are the the main culprits here.We need to come out of this victim mentality and get our house in order and stop blaming others for the mess largely created by ourselves. We had players tested positive for performance enhancing drugs that should've been punished but were let off. We left SL cricket team high and dry after promising them presidential level security and worse started blaming others instead of looking closer to home.Whoever was behind those attacks it was our responsibility to make sure terrorists did not succeed. Our players were caught red handed selling their country to earn few bob at a time when our country was going through a natural disaster.I know players from other teams were involved in fixing in the past but cricket community rightly or wrongly believed to have moved on from them dark days of 90s.It was our players who were caught and cricket authorities in Pakistan needed to take responsibility and act accordingly. Instead of punishing them our board chief went into hiding for a week and came out with baseless allegations against those who had given us home to play cricket. Our board needed to suspend the trio until the thorough investigation.It took ICC to punish the fixers because our governing body was doing nothing. Convicted match fixers are sitting on national media giving expert opinion.Every week there are tv shows crying conspiracy.People back home need to know that papers like NOTW did not target Pakistan because of some Saazish they did it to sell their paper.This paper has history of publishing damaging stories about Eng football stars on the eve of major tournaments. A serial cheat is leading our team and the guy who is running our board is the most incompetent person we could find.He should've got sacked two years ago. There is still time to get our cricket on track.These are some steps that will go a long way towards repairing some of the damage. *Get rid of Ijaz butt.That would be a good start. *Bring in a personality respected at international stage.Sheryar Khan or Majid Khan. *Do your own inquiry of the whole fixing issue and punish the culprits severely(life bans). *Hire an international PR consultant to improve your image. *People with tainted past should not be allowed to work with the team.cough Waqar and Ijaz ahmed. *Educate the players on their responsibilities before they are picked for the national team. *At ICC level make decisions on principles rather then then the blind region based voting like early 2000s. ps.Please leave politics,terrorism,partition out of this thread and give us your honest opinion as a neutral cricket fan. __________________

Can someone give me the WhoTF cares short summary of all of this?

[Karan114]

The problems go much beyond the PCB, really, but for a start, you need to replace Ijaz Butt. When you are as in much trouble as you are right now, the least you need to do is get the big players on side but this man is only distancing Pakistani cricket from them.

[Cricket Tragic]

Playing in the UAE is a waste of time, especially test matches. Absolute roads which don't help Pakistan's spinners or seamers, no interest for tests and really boring cricket.

[Utalk]

You can not expect Sports/Cricket to grow in isolation from state of affairs in rest of the country. The hard truth is - first thing that has to fall in place is the country itself. Consistent excellence in sports is a reflection of economics and country's growth/development. And it is going to take monumental effort and discipline for Pakistan to turn things around from where it is today. Until then isolated moments of brilliance here and there is the best one can expect. Very much relevant to how an individual/society grows: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs .

In 80s Pakistan was rules by a dictator but cricket team was doing well.Up until late 80s cricket was more of an an urban sport with most top cricketers coming from educated backgrounds.Guys like AH Kardar,Fazal Mehmood,Mohammed brothers,Majid,Asif Iqbal,Wasim Raja and Imran all came from educated backgrounds and We were doing fine. After that Miandad six and emergence of Ws along with Imran who was the biggest sport star cricket became a craze in poor/rural areas through media exposure.Balances of power shifted from Karachi and Lahore to small town and next crop were as educated and did not have the upbringing of the generation before.These guys could not handle fame and stardom.

[Utalk]

The problems go much beyond the PCB' date=' really, but for a start, you need to replace Ijaz Butt. When you are as in much trouble as you are right now, the least you need to do is get the big players on side but this man is only distancing Pakistani cricket from them.[/quote'] Replacing Butt would be a start but we need some serous overhaul to get things on track.

[Clarke]

*Get rid of Ijaz butt.That would be a good start. *Bring in a personality respected at international stage.Sheryar Khan or Majid Khan. *Do your own inquiry of the whole fixing issue and punish the culprits severely(life bans). *Hire an international PR consultant to improve your image. *People with tainted past should not be allowed to work with the team.cough Waqar and Ijaz ahmed. *Educate the players on their responsibilities before they are picked for the national team. *At ICC level make decisions on principles rather then then the blind region based voting like early 2000s.

Good intentions .. who's implementing them ? Cricket is the cash cow of the subcontinent and your politicians/generals will not let go. The problem is indeed political.

[Utalk]

Playing in the UAE is a waste of time' date=' especially test matches. Absolute roads which don't help Pakistan's spinners or seamers, no interest for tests and really boring cricket.[/quote'] Given time and effort pitches can improve.Flat wickets are the norm in world cricket now.You can count on one hand number of sporting tracks in world cricket.

[akshayxyz]

So you are trying to say that your country's current state has no bearing on development of sports/cricket? Also if no top team is willing to visit your country, and your players play all matches outside country - stay outside country, practice outside country, is it fair to say its Pakistan team?

[Utalk]

Good intentions .. who's implementing them ? Cricket is the cash cow of the subcontinent and your politicians/generals will not let go. The problem is indeed political.

I know man but one can hope that one day things will improve.

[Karan114]

Replacing Butt would be a start but we need some serous overhaul to get things on track.

I agree, but you need to start somewhere...Butt is making an already bad situation near untenable for you guys.

[Utalk]

So you are trying to say that your country's current state has no bearing on development of sports/cricket? Also if no top team is willing to visit your country, and your players play all matches outside country - stay outside country, practice outside country, is it fair to say its Pakistan team?

No political situation does effect but some of these thing can be fixed in no time.Its the complete unwillingness to sort things out that is hurting us.

[akshayxyz]

Assuming that your failure to acknowledge that improving country's state of affairs is the best way forward to guarantee consistent progress ( not in just cricket), is how most of your peers think. Then I am afraid to say - worst is yet to come.