It should be accepted that all's not well with Pakistan cricket
By Omar Kureishi
I AM somewhat surprised that there has been no fall-out from Pakistan's far from convincing performance against India. No calls for heads to roll, no storming of cricket's headquarters.
Is it a sign that our cricket public has matured?
Or is it a philosophical acceptance of what will be will be, que sera sera that has marked so much of our national life? Apathy has entered into the cricket arena?
There is no disputing that India was the better team in all respects. A visiting team offsets the home advantage by bonding. Thrown together in a foreign country, members of the team turn to each other for support and companionship and a togetherness is created.
Apart from cricketing skills, there is the added factor of team unity and this played a major role in India's success. I have no doubt that had the same Pakistan team been visiting India, the results may well have been the same but there would not have been a tame surrender. This the best that I can do by way of making excuses for the performance of the Pakistan team.
Should one be making excuses? I don't think it would do any good. It should be squarely accepted that all's not well with Pakistan cricket. Any organisation where the part is greater than the whole is an organisation that is headed for trouble.
The several parts that make up the whole must work in harmony. If they are working at cross-purposes the end-product suffers. It is not a question of strong or weak leadership but leadership at every level. Someone has to give the orders but there has to be someone who monitors whether the orders are being carried out and this is what is known as team-work.
In respect of the Pakistan team's performance there has been a lot of buck-passing. Instead of pin-pointing the areas of weakness and these were fairly visible, no one has come forward to accept responsibility.
It's down to individual players either their lack of experience or their tantrums or injuries. If Shoaib Akhtar had been fully fit and raring to go, I doubt whether the result would have been different. As it happened, he was injured and, therefore, not raring to go.
I really see no point in a medical inquiry whose terms of reference have been broadened to include injuries to other bowlers. Even worse is that those who were to appear before this tribunal have either not done so or left the country, fully fit to fulfil their other obligations.
I doubt if these bowlers will find it easy to get unfit, playing for the counties. This is because there is an employer-employee relationship. There have been cases of players being told to pack their bags and go home if the counties have felt that they are not pulling their weight.
Everything was swept under the carpet because all our energies had to be diverted towards making the tour of India a success and there was no time to think of anything else. A lot of people had worried about the fitness level of the Pakistan team. This too was put on hold.
Rather than opt for a fitness-trainer, which these days is even more important than the coach or manager, we were informed that fitness was the responsibility of the players themselves.
One after another, the fast bowlers broke down. Umar Gul came into the team because Shabbir Ahmed was unfit and after playing the Lahore Test match, Umar Gul too got injured.
There were injury scares even about Mohammad Sami for the crucial Rawalpindi Test match. Sami came through but Fazle Akbar had to be inducted because Abdul Razzaq, Shabbir Ahmed and Umar Gul had gone lame.
One was reminded of Oscar Wilde's observation that the loss of one parent is a misfortune but the loss of both smacks of carelessness. Fitness may be the responsibility of the players themselves but so many of them breaking down at the same time would suggest a fault-line in the system.
We didn't even have to go abroad to find a fitness trainer. The Pakistan army or air force would have provided one. I was told that the players themselves were averse to the idea of a fitness trainer.
This is understandable for the trainer would make them work hard and the players preferred their soft training where they don't even work up a sweat. Airline pilots have to undergo regular medical tests.
They may not like this but it is a professional requirement and if they want to keep flying, they have to comply. There have to be certain requirements for those who play professional cricket, more so since they are handsomely paid to do so. This is a critical area of discipline.
We are now told that the PCB is giving some thought to appointing a fitness trainer and even a bowling coach. One can say better late than never. One can also say that this is locking the stable door after the horse has bolted.
One would also like to make this observation that we must not allow the talent of the Under-19 team to go to seed and these players must be put in care and charge of a team-management that has had nothing to do with the senior team.
One final suggestion: The PCB should appoint someone who should be made solely responsible for arranging tours of the Pakistan 'A' teams. That's where our main emphasis should be. India got its bench-strength from a very busy schedule of its 'A' teams. This is a way of guaranteeing continuity and not rely on some chance discovery of talent.
